From Boston Bruins to a rival school, the hockey community has teamed up to support high school player AJ Quetta, a wounded 18-year-old whose headache on his boards could leave him paralyzed.
“It’s incredible. Almost 10,000 people taking the time to support AJ, I think [fundraising] the number is now probably close to a million dollars, “said Tim Sullivan, president of Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts, where Quetta is a senior.
Quetta suffered a spinal cord injury in a game on Tuesday night against Pope Francis in West Springfield, falling awkwardly onto the boards in an attempt at body verification. He was transported to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield that night.
Quetta has had spine surgery since the accident. Her sister, Elyse Quetta, wrote on the family’s fundraising page that her brother “may not be able to move the body again.”
News of the injury quickly spread to the New England hockey community, which met in support of Quetta. The family’s GoFundMe had a goal of $ 10,000; on Friday afternoon, it was closing at $ 600,000 in donations.
The Bruins have pledged “a minimum donation of $ 100,000” and are holding an auction of bats used to raise more funds – including those used by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins, who played in Boston this week. The Bruins honored Quetta by hanging his shirt behind his bench against Pittsburgh on Thursday night, placing his nameplate in his locker room and symbolically rewarding him with the puck as a game player.
“Despite these tragic circumstances, my family and the Boston Bruins organization are very proud to see such a show of support from the New England hockey community,” said Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs.
Sullivan said that in addition to the money raised by the Bruins and GoFundMe, there is more than $ 130,000 coming from WEEI’s Greg Hill Foundation, with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, promising to match up to $ 25,000 of the money raised. There is another private six-digit donation from within the school.
Pope Francis Prep, the team that faced Bishop Feehan on Tuesday, is raising money by selling clover stickers with the Quetta number 10 on them.
Sullivan said the team’s players and parents came together as a group called “AJ’s Army”, which already has T-shirts printed in support of Quetta, and has a number of other fundraising options they are trying to put into action.
As for the school, Sullivan said that much of his support for Quetta and his family this week came in the form of prayer.
“I don’t know, it may sound cliché, but it has been a big part of it. And Mrs. [Nicole] Quetta, I talked to her yesterday and she talked about it first. It’s what we do here every day, but it’s been a little different this week, ”he said.
Bishop Feehan had a game on Wednesday that was postponed, but the team is scheduled to play Friday night.
“The boys are devastated by their friend. They had games and training. We thought, ‘Tell us about yourself. There is no wrong answer here. Whatever feels right ‘. And they decided to skate. The practice went well and they are playing [tonight]”Sullivan told ESPN.” We told them it’s a hockey game. Go play hockey. It may not be fun tonight, but it is also not a memorial service. Playing hockey is fine. “