Boy’s fight for life ends

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Editor’s note: Sadly Noah Lear passed away Wednesday morning. Check back to the Galion Inquirer for updates.

On Feb. 27, Melissa Griffin got a phone call from her 16-year-old son, Noah Lear.

“He just said that he had an accident and his mouth was bleeding really bad and he knocked a few teeth out. He said the police were with him and he was being taken to the hospital,” Griffin said.

Griffin said when she arrived at the hospital, her son was not there yet.

“Then I started hearing the trauma calls over the speaker. I did not know what to think and didn’t even know what type of accident he had been in,” Griffin said on Tuesday.

Lear loved playing basketball and that is exactly what he had been doing that fateful day at Calvary Baptist Church on Marion Road with his friends.

“When he went to dunk the ball, the whole thing-post, backboard and rim, came down on him,” Griffin said.

Griffin said when her son arrived at Bucyrus Community Hospital, he was still talking and saying how sorry he was about the accident.

“I told him he had nothing to be sorry for,” Griffin said.

Griffin said her son suffered cardiac arrest twice before being taken by medical helicopter to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

“At some point, an emergency trach (tracheostomy) was done to help get oxygen to his brain. He had thrown up and aspirated that into his lungs,” Griffin said.

Lear has been fighting for his life, with people praying for him around the world after a Facebook page was created for him called Battle of the Lear.

Melissa Griffin and her husband, Tate Griffin, received the news no parent ever wants to hear last Thursday.

“We were told that due to the lack of oxygen to his brain, the part that controls the body’s vitals such as blood pressure, heart rate and temperature, is no longer working,” Griffin said.

As many mothers would do, Griffin called in several brain specialists to examine her son, hopeful something could be done.

“There is nothing we can do at this point but pray,” said Griffin.

Griffin said her son has been moved from Children’s Hospital to a hospice facility.

“It is a very nice place and they are keeping him comfortable,” Griffin said.

Lear’s cousins, Leeann Quaintance and Sonya Bloomfield Young, said they want to do anything they can for Lear and his family.

“We are family and family helps family. They need everyone’s support now more than ever,” Young said.

Young and Quaintance have scheduled a benefit to help offset medical expenses from 4 to 8 p.m. April 2 at Bucyrus High School, 900 W. Perry St., in Bucyrus.

“We will be having a silent auction, food, and music will be provided by Rob Skaggs who is friends with Tate and Melissa and has known Noah since he was a little kid,” Young said of the Bucyrus native and Nashville musician and recording artist.

The event will feature a spaghetti dinner, bake sale, and 50/50 drawing also.

Young said an account has been set up for Noah Lear at Firelands Credit Union in Bucyrus. For more information or to donate items for the silent auction, call Young at 419-617-6939 or Leann Quaintance 419-569-5642.

Griffin said the support from the community has been overwhelming.

“We are so grateful for everyone’s prayers, concern and support. We stayed up all night last night reading letters that Noah’s friends from school have sent to him that includes their memories with him. He loves people and is such a good-hearted kid,” Griffin said. “He was just playing ball with his friends, like he loved to do. It’s so hard to make sense of all of this.”

Bucyrus High School student Noah Lear is battling to survive in hospice care after a tragic accident in Bucyrus on Feb. 27.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2016/03/web1_Noah-Lear.jpgBucyrus High School student Noah Lear is battling to survive in hospice care after a tragic accident in Bucyrus on Feb. 27.

By Kimberly Gasuras

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Reach Gasuras on Twitter: @kimberlygasuras

 

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