Mask up for Carley

Carley DeChant is an 8th grader at Onaga and is a manager for the Onaga High School softball team. On Thursday, March 20, 2025 she was at softball practice doing all the appropriate manager duties when she took a line drive directly to her head in her right temporal area.

Later that evening, Carley started to get a bad headache so her mom monitored her as she most likely had a concussion. Carley’s mom, Kendra Thorson, went to check on her around 1am where she noticed a change in her mental status. Kendra then decided to take Carley to the Onaga ER. Onaga Hospital ordered a CT scan and that is where they found Carley had a really large epidural hematoma (bleeding between the skull and the dura mater of her brain, creating pressure on the brain, and if not treated immediately can cause brain damage and be life threatening). They consulted a Neurosurgeon at Children’s Mercy Hospital who looked at the scans and requested immediate transfer to CMH. Carley landed by life flight at Children’s Mercy Hospital at 5:25am. The Neurosurgeon and trauma team were already waiting for her arrival in their ER Trauma room. Kendra signed surgical consent to perform a craniotomy and Carley was taken back to the surgery room by 5:45am. She got out of surgery at 9am and was transferred to the PICU. Her incision is from her right ear to the front mid-portion of her head, about an inch behind her hair line. Her post-op CT scan looked stable, no new bleeding. On Monday, March 24th Carley was discharged and got to go home! Carley will be on medication to prevent seizures for at least one week. A true miracle as this accident could have ended a lot worse than it did.

Carley’s brain is still very fragile and needs time to heal. We can tell when there is too much going on or too many people around her as she gets overstimulated, starts to get a headache, and becomes very tired. The Neurosurgeon said she cannot attend school until after her follow up appointment, which is scheduled on April 11th. When she does go back to school, she will start with just a few hours and will have to be in a room where there are not a lot of people or loud noises. They gave her very strict restrictions for attending school. Carley cannot participate in any type of sports for at least 3 months minimum. They will re-evaluate in 3 months and release her to participate in more activities when appropriate. Carley still has a long road to recovery.

** I want to emphasize how important it is for ALL infielders to wear a fielder’s mask while playing softball, no matter what age you are!!! I NEVER want any player to go through what my 14 year old has went through in the past 24 hours. I NEVER want any parent to go through what we have went through in the past 24 hours. Please, PLEASE, athletes wear the proper protection when playing ANY sport!!! Much love to everyone.

#MaskUpForCarley