jasdooit

A high school football referee lost his leg in a scrimmage after a young player missed a tackle and landed on him in a horror injury. 

Jim Abbott suffered the devastating injury during the practice in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 14, that he was overseeing at Withrow High School. 

He said his leg broke when a cornerback launched at another player and missed, sending him flying into the referee and causing a gruesome knee injury.

Abbott said he broke his leg and his knee replacement shredded tissue around the joint, including severing blood vessels.

Doctors told the referee that blood was not circulating to his leg, and after days of treatment he was warned that an urgent amputation was needed.

‘The decision was, ‘Hey, we’ve gone as far as we can. If we delay any longer, we’re just going to lose more and more and more muscle,” he told Fox19. 

‘So off came my leg.’

Despite the life-changing injury, Abbott – who has been refereeing high school games for 30 years – said he hopes to set an example of how to handle adversity. 

‘This is the hand I’m dealt. We’re going to play the hand. We’re going to win,’ he said.

‘This is a situation that was presented to me. I don’t have a choice. I can sit down in the fetal position and stay in bed, or I can get back up, rehab hard and get back to life as quickly as I can.’

In a GoFundMe set up by Abbott’s niece, she said when the referee was initially brought down by a player it ‘appeared to be a severely dislocated knee.’ 

He was raced to University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Clifton, where imaging showed he suffered ‘extensive damage to his knee’, the fundraiser said. 

Because Abbott had reconstructive knee surgery years ago, the injury caused damage to the ‘artificial hardware’ as well as the severing of the main artery in his lower leg.

When he was raced into emergency surgery, Abbott’s niece said he ‘began to have complications’ during the procedure, including significant blood loss.

‘Due to the combination of lack of blood flow to the muscles, and the inability to repair the veins in his leg, both surgical teams deemed it in Jim’s best interest to return to the O.R. for an above-the-knee amputation,’ the fundraiser read.

Since leaving hospital, Abbott faces a lengthy stay at an inpatient physical therapy facility before he can return home, his niece said. 

He hopes to be fitted with a prosthetic leg, she added. 

As of Saturday, more than $28,000 has been raised. 

Abbott told Fox19 that he also wants to speak to the young player who hit him, to assure him he has no hard feelings about the unfortunate incident.

‘He needs to know that this was football. This is a collision sport; it’s written into the rules. What happened, happened,’ he said.

‘We’re going to play the hand’: Referee stays optimistic after injury, amputation

‘We’re going to play the hand’: Referee stays optimistic after injury, amputation For more Local News from WXIX: https://www.fox19.com/ For more YouTube Content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiOEUz7UCTSo6NUcQ86nFvA #football #youthsports #youthfootball #referee #refereelife #highschool #highschoolsports #highschoolfootball #ampute #amputationrecovery #footballinjury #highschool

YouTube • FOX19 NOW | Cincinnati

‘Man, good things are going to come to you. I don’t want him feeling badly. I don’t need to hear I’m sorry. This is football. It happened. What’s next? That’s my phrase. What’s next?’

Cincinnati Public Schools said in a statement following Abbott’s injury that it was sending ‘our heartfelt concern and support’ to the longtime referee.

‘We are grateful for Jim’s decades of dedicated service to student-athletes throughout Greater Cincinnati,’ the school district said.

‘Our thoughts are with Jim, his family and the entire officiating community as he continues his recovery.’

Read more