Photographer on Life Support After Being Hit at Football Game
A team photographer is on life support with “little hope left” after she was struck at a high school football game in Kansas while taking photos on Monday night.
Linda Gregory has been taking photos of the Wichita Northwest Grizzly Football team for years. While covering Monday night’s game, she was “ran into” and subsequently hit her head on a concrete apron. She was taken to the hospital where her condition worsened and family are now making organ donor arrangements.
According to a message posted on Linda’s husband’s Facebook page, the photographer is “still on life support but we have talked to the organ transplant people and she is being monitored for end of brain function.”
Initially, there were reports that Linda would be okay but as Monday evening progressed it became evident to doctors that the injury was life-threatening.
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Linda’s husband Mel calls his wife his “soul mate, my bestest in everything” while friends and family told local media how much Linda means to them.
Joanna Chadwick, a friend of Linda’s, tells 12 News about Linda’s effectiveness at telling stories through the lens of her camera and her commitment to covering sports.
“When she came up to Northwest, I mean, they were at every game: home, away, they were there. If they were sick, by God, they were going to be there for at least the first half,” says Chadwick.
“Whether she took their child’s senior portraits or showed up to their son’s t-ball game, she just loves the community and she loves people.
“I can’t even explain it enough to people that didn’t know her, how many people she touched.”
Linda’s website shows an accomplished photographer who mastered difficult techniques such as light painting and light sculpting. She regularly updated her Facebook page where it’s apparent that she is a constant student of the game, always learning fresh photo techniques.
An update to the Wichita Northwest football page states that “we knew the risk and we were willing to take that risk to be with ‘our boys.’ You need to understand that it is your field, your place of combat and we know the dangers.” Which appears to be a message that has come from Linda’s husband Mel.
Update on 9/7/23: Gregory has passed away from her injuries.
“Linda was an amazing person who breathed life into our students here at Northwest,” Northwest Grizzlies football coach Steve Martin says. “Her passion for kids was amazing, but it went deeper than taking pictures for Linda and Mel. They were a part of our football team and always will be. They are family! She was a mentor and friend to some of our boys, past and present, and they are hurting right now.
“The loss is a painful one for our team and my family, but we can only hope to learn from this tragic event. Linda and Mel have planted themselves into our Northwest community and we will never forget Linda! She left this world doing what she loved to do and that was being around people and expressing herself with pictures! We will be keeping her spirit alive in our program and will be wearing LG stickers on our helmets to always remind us of our number one fan.”
