Community benefit helps player heal

When Max Sarmento had to be taken off the field and taken by ambulance to the hospital during last fall’s home football game, it was only the start of what was to come.

His mother, Heather, said that after the incident, he was on crutches for four months. Working through the insurance process was a pain, but they were finally able to take him down to a specialist in Salt Lake City and he had surgery back on January 10 of this year.

Heather said that the last year has been a struggle, especially financially, with her husband being laid off through the winter months.

“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “My husband has been laid off so we’ve only had one income. There’s been a strain on our family as we had to take trips to Salt Lake City. (Max) is supposed to be going to physical therapy, but we just can’t afford it.”

Max has also been having a hard time, his mother said. Though he’s been doing a lot better in recent weeks as he’s finally started to heal, he was really depressed in the beginning.

“For the first three or four months, he was really depressed. He was an unhappy kid there for awhile,” Heather said. “He’s missed out on basketball and track. It’s been extremely difficult.”

However, Max is only a doctor’s appointment away from being released, which means he would be able to return to sports once again. Heather said that just knowing the end is in sight and having the doctor’s assurance that he’d be able to play next year, which is his senior year. has helped them get through

The community is also intervening and is hoping to raise some money to defer some of the traveling costs. Neu said that her son, Hewston Coon, bought a gun and has donated it to be raffled off. Tia Neu said that at one point her son needed to have some surgery done and the community stepped up to help them out with costs and they wanted to do the same.

“A couple years back we were in the same situation,” Neu said, “and the community was generous to us. This is a way for us to pay it forward.”

The gun is a 300 Magnum Savage and comes with a scope. Neu said that it’s a pretty nice gun. She’s hoping that people will get on board and purchase the raffle tickets that they are selling.

“We’d like to see people respond,” she said. “Max is such a sweet kid.”

Neu said that the best spot to buy tickets for the gun is at the Rail Head Sporting Goods Store in Superior. She also said that the guys there can give you an idea of what the gun looks like. Other ways to purchase tickets are to get a hold of Neu, Brad Smith or Dan Lucier.

Neu said that they’d like to raffle the gun off by the end of next month.

For Heather, the fact that people are stepping out to help was unexpected.