Mother of IU football player tells harrowing story of her son’s battle with COVID-19

From perfectly healthy to the emergency room.  From preparing for a college football season to battling breathing and heart issues.

That is the story shared in a Facebook post by Debbie Rucker, the mother of Indiana freshman offensive lineman Brady Feeney.

Feeney tested negative for COVID-19 when voluntary workouts began several weeks ago.  Since then, he and several other players tested positive.

Feeney battled the virus for 14 days according to Rucker’s post, and Indiana shut down the voluntary workouts for two weeks.

Indiana restarted workouts on Friday, while Feeney continues to battle with complications.

Rucker’s full post follows:

“My son was negative when he got tested at the beginning of volunteer workouts.  Within three weeks he and multiple others tested positive.  His university has done everything right by shutting down workouts and retesting the whole team.  Unfortunately this virus hit my son very hard compared to most of his teammates.  Here was a kid in perfect health, great physical condition, and due to the virus ended up going to the ER because of breathing issues.  After 14 days of hell battling the horrible virus, his school did additional testing on all those that were positive.  My son even received extra tests because he was one of the worst cases.  Now we are dealing with possible heart issues!  He is still experiencing additional symptoms and his blood work is indicating additional problems.  Bottom line, even if your son’s schools do everything right to protect them, they CAN’T PROTECT THEM!!  I pray my son recovers from this horrible virus and can lead a healthy normal life!!  Football does not really matter when your child’s health is in jeopardy!!  Think about it!!!  My heart is hurting and I pray for all of these kids and for the people making the decisions about the season!!!

Please protect all of those around you and please wear a mask!!!”

Rucker indicated in her post that she had her son’s permission to share his story.

Feeney came to IU from Christian Brothers High School in St. Louis.  The 6-foot-4 and 325 pound Feeney originally committed to Rice before flipping to Indiana in July, 2019.

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