Bay Area rallies around high school football player injured in diving accident

A high school baseball game Wednesday evening between two Bay Area teams carried added meaning.This comes after a popular student at Acalanes High School was injured last weekend.Before the start of the game between Acalanes High School and Petaluma High School, Ofelia Noroozi, the injured boy's mother, walked alone to the pitcher's mound at Acalanes High's baseball field. Her thoughts were not on the strike she was trying to throw, but on her son, whom she is trying to help.And she isn't alone."You could touch the love. You could feel it. It was like a big hug that lifted me up and it was just like rocking me, like it'll be okay," she said.The incident that brought Noroozi to the pitcher's mound began with a visit to Stinson Beach in San Francisco on Sunday. Amin Noroozi, a football player with a heart of gold and an infectious smile, was with his friends, playing and taking turns diving into the water. But on one dive, he didn't pop back up out of the water. He had hit his head, suffered a spinal injury, and had to be airlifted to a hospital."We're still in it. It's been less than 72 hours ago that this happened, so it's still fresh, it's still raw," said family friend Jane Smith.She said Amin had lost feeling in his arms and legs due to the spinal injury.His mother said her son, now intubated, spoke briefly after the accident on Sunday."He said 'I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. I don't want to be like this.' And I said, 'Don't jump to conclusions. Either way we'll figure it out," said Ofelia Noroozi.Noroozi isn't dealing with this dilemma on her own. Friends organized bake and food sales at sporting events in Lafayette this week.A GoFundMe page shows over $100,000 in donations."I just can't imagine being Ofelia. I just couldn't imagine being here. I would want somebody to help me in a time of need — when you don't know what the future is, what the questions are. So I just think it was important to be there for her," said Smith.Added Acalanes High School Principal Eric Shawn, "I think it's a testament to the real familial culture we have on our campus and in this community."As the game progressed with Petaluma leading in the early innings 2-0, many people's thoughts were of Amin, who could not attend and cheer on his friends — but whose friends are cheering him on in his recovery."Hanging out with him that's what we're missing the most. Like, when we get back to normal and we can just be with him, that's all we could ask for," said Joey Martin, a friend and football teammate.All sales will be donated for medical and other costs that Amin's parents are shouldering.Family members said there was possibly some good news Wednesday regarding an improvement in the severity of Amin's neck injury, but doctors still had to run more tests.