Recently in Jermaine Musgrove Category

I received a call from Lynda Musgrove, the mother of 16-year-old San Bernardino High School junior track athlete Jermaine Musgrove, earlier today updating Jermaine's status. Musgrove is still in critical condition at Arrowhead Medical Center at Colton after collapsing during his leg of the 4x400 relay at last Wednesday's San Andreas League meet at Colton High School.

"He's doing OK," Lynda Musgrove said. "He's opening his eyes and moving his hands a bit. He's certainly not a vegetable right now. When you tell him to open his eyes, he opens them."

Lynda said that she isn't quite sure how far along Jermaine's awareness is, though stated that Jermaine's eyes followed his grandfather as his grandfather walked around his room. Jermaine's overall status and prognosis is still unclear though.

"He's showing signs, but not enough right now," Lynda said.

Lynda also made it a point to thank the communities of San Bernardino and the surrounding areas for their support of Jermaine. Besides visitors and get-well cards and posters, several area religious leaders have called for prayers for Jermaine according to Lynda.

Lynda also lauded a note written by Angelina Shelton on the Press-Enterprise's website. Here is the entry, which is published with Shelton's consent.

"I witnessed this child go down and my heart sank and left the track meet in tears. He was the same size, frame, and build as my son so it was very profound and emotional for me to see him lying there that way. The only difference was that he was wearing a SB uniform and not a Cajon uniform. While the ambulance was on site on the west side of the track, it took them about 5-6 minutes to get to the other side of the track. During this time the other coaches were giving him CPR. Upon arrival by the ambulance to him, it looked like they appeared to be using a defibrilator machine. As I saw the paramedics doing chest compressions on him (mind you for at least 20 minutes) I just prayed the blood of Jesus over him. The personnel were feverishly working on him and I just really thought about how his parents might not have known that at that moment that they're baby was down. As a mother, I was hurting for his mother, still am. I prayed to God that she would not have to bury her child while celebrating Mother's Day. I stopped one of his teammates before getting on the bus and told him to pray for his friend and he replied, "Yeah Jermaine's a cool dude, we got class together, he'll be straight." The drive home was very somber and emotional for me as I just kept praying out loud to myself for his parents, for him, for siblings if he had any. Just to let this boy live. I asked God if he's an angel that you need right now, then have mercy on his soul and give his parents the courage they'll need thru their grief. I then asked God if he's not an angel that you need right now, then give Jermaine the strength to pull thru and go home to his parents. I apologize for writing so much, but I woke up just heartbroken thinking about this child. I just hope that if his parents or family or friends read this that they take comfort in knowing that from one mother to the next your son is in my prayers and I will continue to plead the blood of Jesus over him until he is better. God bless."

San Bernardino High School junior track and field athlete Jermaine Musgrove remained in the intensive care unit at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton Friday, where he has remained since collapsing during the San Andreas League track and field meet Wednesday evening.

Musgrove was running the third leg of the 4x400 relay at Colton High School, the last event of the meet, at around 7 p.m. when he collapsed. Witnesses at the scene said he was attended to on site and taken by ambulance to the medical center, where he remains in critical condition according to San Bernardino Unified School District spokeswoman Linda Bardere.

"We know that he was taken to the intensive care unit right away after collasping during the event," Bardere said. "It all happened pretty quickly He was running the race and all of a sudden he collapsed."

Musgrove, who had been cleared in a preseason physical examination for athletics according to Bardere, was a replacement in the relay for another San Bernardino athlete who was injured prior to the event. His status was still critical as of 1 p.m. Friday according to a spokesperson at the medical center and Bardere, with updates being provided by the district office through Musgrove's parents and San Bernardino High School principal Sandra Rodriguez.

The district is also addressing rumors that have spread on campus due to the high-profile nature of the event.

"With the high attendance of the event, a lot of students and parents saw it occur and rumors have spread because of it," Bardere said. "We are working with principal Rodriguez to address that and prevent any inaccurate information from spreading."

The San Bernardino High School community has rallied around Musgrove, as crisis teams have been on campus helping students cope with the incident while the Cardinals track and field team and various other San Bernardino students have visited Musgrove at the hospital and have given the Musgrove family its support.

"It's an image I'll never forget," San Bernardino track and field coach John Hinkleman said. "There were 30 or 40 kids that stopped by the hospital (Thursday) to give their wishes and kids are making posters and cards and pouring their hearts out for Jermaine and his family."

The Cardinals track team postponed its team picture, set for Thursday, as well, waiting to see how Musgrove's situation plays out before rescheduling.