Robert Bush, Selden teen who collapsed on field, dies, and family donates organs

Robert Bush, a 17-year-old varsity football player who collapsed Monday in Selden during conditioning drills, was declared clinically dead Friday afternoon, and family members donated his organs, his brother said.

Bush, of Selden, has been on life support at Stony Brook University Hospital since collapsing at Newfield High School, one of his older brothers, Steve Bush, said Friday evening.

Doctors at Stony Brook conducted a second brain scan Friday and found no brain activity, prompting doctors to declare him dead at 4:05 p.m., Steve Bush said.

The preliminary cause of death was ruled as sudden cardiac arrest. An autopsy is planned to examine his heart, his brother said. 

The family donated five to six of Robert’s organs to help save other lives. Family members had expected him to remain on life support for the next several days until they were told Friday there were matches on the donor list waiting for organs.

“Even though we’ve known for a few days that Robert was not going to be with us, it’s only human nature to ask, ‘Why him?’” Steve Bush said. “Knowing this giving 17-year-old, if he had the opportunity, he would wave to everyone and say he’s going to save some lives right now.”

Stony Brook University officials declined to comment, citing patient privacy.

An "honor walk" took place late Friday night in a crowded fourth-floor hallway at Stony Brook University Hospital, Steve Bush said Saturday. Bush said he noticed a line of people stretching 100 to 150 feet as the family and hospital staff wheeled Robert into the operating room, with the football team standing guard at the end of the hall.

The honor walk was first slated to begin around 10 p.m. but was pushed back twice because of the growing number of visitors. The hospital was unable to accommodate all of them, and many gathered and waited outside. School and hospital staff were also present.

Steve Bush said he was touched by what he saw.

“It was amazing,” he said. “The community has really helped us kind of keep it together. He was such a love, and to see that love from others shown, that’s just who he was.”

The Middle Country Central School District announced Robert Bush's death Friday night and said counselors would be available at Newfield High School Monday.

Services are pending, but the family plans to bury him at Pinelawn Cemetery next to his adoptive mother, Patricia Bush, who died of cancer in 2017. He was adopted as a baby and was one of 10 siblings ranging in age from 16 to 56, who helped raise him since he was 11.

Fundraising efforts by the community have brought in more than $10,000 for burial costs, his brother said. 

“Given the support and the outreach we’ve received these last few days, we didn’t realize how many lives he’s touched,” Steve Bush said.

Robert had no prior health issues and had run the track one time to warm up, his brother said. He was four minutes into conditioning drills when he bent over and collapsed, Steve Bush said.

A coach and teammate began performing CPR while another coach attempted to revive him with a defibrillator before he was taken by ambulance to Stony Brook Hospital.

 “He was a healthy kid and it was not an impact injury,” Steve Bush said. “Since Monday they’ve been able to rule out different things. Unfortunately, that left them with some type of irregular heartbeat or rhythm that happened at that exact moment.

"It could have happened anywhere, and why it happened then, they don’t know. There’s a chance we could learn from the autopsy, but we’re prepared for the fact that it may not tell us a story we hope to get.”

With Lorena Mongelli

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.