Teen dies days after collapsing on basketball court

A Michigan teenager has died less than a week after he collapsed during a high school basketball game.

On January 31, 18-year-old Cartier Woods was playing basketball with his teammates at Northwestern High School in Detroit, Michigan. Just three minutes into a game against Detroit Douglass, Woods told his coach, George Tyson, that he wasn't feeling well.

"Coach, I’m dizzy," Woods reportedly told Tyson. "I need to come out."

Woods then suddenly went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the floor. Tyson immediately began to perform CPR until paramedics arrived. When they did, they used an automated external defibrillator on him and continued to perform CPR for another 40-60 minutes as they rushed him to nearby Henry Ford Hospital.

Woods lingered on life support for several days, while family and friends gathered for a prayer vigil on Friday night, despite the frigid temperatures.

Sadly, all the medical and spiritual interventions could not save Woods' life, and he passed away on Monday night, the family confirmed.

Dwanda Woods, the teen's biological aunt and legal guardian, claimed that her nephew had been an athlete from his earliest days and that he aspired one day to play college and perhaps even professional ball.

"No one can stop him," Dwanda Woods said. "He just loves playing football, basketball. That’s his number one goal of what he wanted to do his whole life."

Dwanda Woods also told reporters that Cartier had no history of cardiac disease or any other health problems.

"He was a very good person," she added. "He’d give anybody anything, if he had it."

Iyania Curry, a friend of Cartier's, said much the same. "Starbucks on Woodward, we used to always go there after school. We’d get brownies. He would always pay for my brownies," Curry recalled. "He always looked out for us."

Melonie Woods, who calls herself Woods' "Sister/Cousin," established a GoFundMe account to raise money for his medical expenses. "Cartier was such a great kid all he do was wanted to go to school play SPORTS AND BE WITH HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS," Melonie Woods wrote. So far, the account has gathered $4,300 of its $20,000 goal.

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