A tragic day for the Heart of Texas Junior Cycling team is highlighting the resilience of two young athletes facing life-altering challenges.<\/p>\n
WACO, Texas \u2014 What started as a typical Friday for a Central Texas youth cycling team quickly turned into a day families say they will never forget.<\/p>\n
Within hours of each other, two members of the Heart of Texas Junior Cycling team<\/a> were hospitalized \u2014 one after being struck by a truck in a hit-and-run crash, and another after receiving a life-altering cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS), troopers responded around 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 to a crash on FM 2957 near Pep Club Road in Hallsburg. Investigators say a Chevrolet Silverado traveling westbound struck a bicyclist and drove away from the scene. Authorities later located the vehicle and its driver.<\/p>\n The cyclist was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The driver was also taken to a hospital for treatment. The investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n Heart of Texas Junior Cycling head coach Brady Gibson said the teen, 16 year-old Walker Carroll, had been riding with a teammate during a training session when the crash happened.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was moving over into single file when he was hit from behind,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cHe was thrown ahead, and his teammate didn\u2019t even know where he was at first.\u201d<\/p>\n A nurse happened to arrive shortly after the crash and was able to stabilize Carroll until first responders arrived, Gibson said.<\/p>\n Carroll suffered severe injuries, including a traumatic brain injury requiring emergency surgery to relieve swelling, a burst fracture in his spine, a broken fibula and tailbone and internal injuries to his organs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a life-changing event for him,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cThis is a year-long recovery process for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Carroll\u2019s father, Dan Carroll, said his son has not regained consciousness since the crash.<\/p>\n \u201cThey removed part of his skull to drain the brain bleed and make room for the swelling,\u201d Carroll said. \u201cThere\u2019s no way to quantify when he will regain consciousness. We\u2019re in a holding pattern right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Carroll said the family is leaning on faith and community support while waiting for progress.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a world where there is so much bad, it\u2019s refreshing to meet so many people with so much good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Earlier that same afternoon \u2014 just hours before the crash \u2014 another teammate, 13-year-old Colton Young, was diagnosed with leukemia.<\/p>\n Young’s mother, Tamara Moore, said the diagnosis came rapidly after abnormal lab results prompted an urgent hospital visit.<\/p>\n \u201cWithin five hours he was getting a blood transfusion,\u201d Moore said. \u201cBy Thursday he had biopsies, and by Friday at 3:30 I was told he had leukemia.\u201d<\/p>\n Colton, an eighth grader at Lorena Middle School, had been an active competitive cyclist. Moore said looking back, the warning signs were there.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was always tired and didn\u2019t want to ride,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it was just a 13-year-old being lazy. But he had cancer in his body then \u2014 and he was still climbing hills at Cameron Park.\u201d<\/p>\n Colton has already begun chemotherapy and has required multiple blood transfusions. Doctors say treatment will be long-term.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Colton, this is a multi-year recovery process,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n Families say the timing \u2014 both tragedies happening the same day \u2014 has been especially difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was 3:30 when I got Colton\u2019s diagnosis, and just a couple of hours later Walker was fighting for his life,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI want all of that healing for Walker too.\u201d<\/p>\n The cycling team and Central Texas community have rallied around both boys. More than 50 people filled a hospital waiting room praying the night of the crash, according to Gibson. Strangers have also reached out to Colton\u2019s family with meals and financial help.<\/p>\n \u201cThey might not be blood, but they are my family,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI\u2019m stronger with them.\u201d<\/p>\n The team has created online support pages and is planning a benefit event to help both families with medical and long-term recovery expenses.<\/p>\n Gibson said the team plans to dedicate its season to both teens.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an endurance sport,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cAnd this is going to be an endurance battle for them, but this community believes they\u2019re going to get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n Those who wish to send monetary donations can donate to Young at this link<\/a> and Carroll at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tragic day for the Heart of Texas Junior Cycling team is highlighting the resilience of two young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-467215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}