A Mt. Juliet High School and Golden Bear football player is fighting for his life after he hydroplaned off the road during severe weather over the weekend.
MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Mt. Juliet High School and Golden Bear football player is fighting for his life after he hydroplaned off the road during severe weather over the weekend.
Jaxon Rocchiettie was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
“His major injury is the injury to his brain,” said Jennifer York, Jaxon’s mom.
Rocchietti’s family Facetimed News 2 from Vanderbilt as they wait for Jaxon to wake up.
“We have a few concrete questions with a thousand answers,” said Matthew Rocchietti, Jaxon’s dad.
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On Saturday afternoon, Jaxon was driving home from work on Old Lebanon Dirt Road when he hit some water and hydroplaned. “He slid off the road completely which made the hydroplane worse, and he hit two trees and then a third three with full force on the passenger side,” York said.
When first responders arrived, Jaxon was unresponsive and had to be extradited out of the vehicle. He was rushed to Vanderbilt.
“This hits more home because it’s a player and it’s a coach,” said Trey Perry, Head Coach for Mt. Juliet Golden Bear Football.
Jaxon is a long snapper for the Mt. Juliet Golden Bear football team. He followed in his older brother’s footsteps and plays with his dad as the tight end coach.
“His brother wears 88, I wore 99 and he wanted to wear 44,” Matthew said.
The game of football has always been part of his family’s life. His father said he hopes one day Jaxon will be back on the field.
“I said to the kids this is motivation to not just play a football game but pick up their fallen brother when he’s not with us right now,” Perry said.
Until then, his family said they need all the prayers they can get.
“Jaxon’s road to recovery is going to be long. It’s not a sprint it’s definitely a marathon. We need continued prayers there is going to be small victories every day,” Matthew said.
The Golden Bear football team takes on Antioch this Thursday during their rescheduled homecoming game. Coach Perry told News 2 they will be honoring Jaxon.
A GoFundMe to help with Jaxon’s medical expenses can be found here.