Fundraiser is Wednesday for Crystal Lake Central Football Player Who Lost Eye in 'Random Accident'

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL -- Fourteen-year-old Kaelan Connell is lucky to be alive after his eye was punctured with a stick during a “random accident” in March but the Crystal Lake Central High School has faced plenty of tough decisions and adversity along his road to recovery in recent months.

On Wednesday, Nick’s Pizza & Pub, 856 Pyott Road in Crystal Lake, will host a fund-raiser for Kaelan Connell from 4 to 10 p.m. The restaurant will donate 25 percent of its sales to Connell. Those attending the fundraiser should present this flyer while placing their dine-in or carry-out order.

Photo credit: Kaelan Connell's Medical Fund GoFundMe Page

The fundraiser is meant to help offset some of the family’s medical expenses after the March 29 accident. Connell, a freshman at Crystal Lake Central High School, was hanging out with friends when he was accidentally struck in the eye, according to the Northwest Herald. He was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago after emergency room doctors realized the severity of puncture, which severed his left eye in half, according to a GoFundMe page setup to help pay for medical expenses for Kaelan. Surgeons spent 4.5 hours cleaning out and repairing Connell’s eye as “best they could.”

Doctors told Connell’s family Kaelan was lucky to be alive and “ if the stick had gone a half-inch deeper it would have been much worse,” according to the GoFundMe page.

After several trips to Lurie’s and meetings with a team of ophthalmologists, an ultrasound completed on April 6 determined Kaelan had no light perception. A “life-changing decision” had to be made, the family wrote on the GoFundMepage, and on April 22, Kaelan’s left eye was removed and an implant was put in its place.

Photo credit: Kaelan Connell's Medical Fund GoFundMe Page

Kaelan has been recovering at home and in recent weeks, received a temporary prosthetic eye. He is going to appointments with an ocularist who is working to create a final prosthetic eye for Kaelan, which he is expected to have by early August -- "just in time for school,” the family wrote in a recent update on the GoFundMe page.

Photo credit: Kaelan Connell's Medical Fund GoFundMe Page

As of Tuesday afternoon, over $8,700 had been raised on the Kaelan Connell’s Medical Fund GoFundMe page. The family writes that they hope to use the funds to “help pay for Kaelan’s medical expenses, special eyewear and his prosthetic eye.

"While we do have insurance for Kaelan, it does not cover all of the medical expenses. These expenses are quickly adding up, as well as the extra expenses of the many trips to Chicago (gas, parking, meals, etc.),” according to the GoFundMe page.

Kaelan’s family is proud of his high spirits and resilience.

“Kaelan has been amazing through this entire ordeal … (he is) eager to get back to his normal routine of school, football, working out and hanging out with friends.”

Photo credit: Kaelan Connell's Medical Fund GoFundMe Page