Gravette High School mourns death of student

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GRAVETTE — Students and teachers at Gravette High School are mourning the death of a junior football player who died after a staph infection and surgery.

At homecoming Friday, the school plans to honor Casey Russell, who died Wednesday morning at Arkansas Children's Hospital. School Superintendent Andrea Kelly says that Russell started feeling ill last week and sat out Friday's game because of back pain. She says Russell went to the doctor Tuesday, where they discovered he was in renal failure and needed emergency surgery.

Russell was flown to Arkansas Children's Hospital for surgery. Kelly says that a staph infection was discovered during surgery and that Russell never recovered from the anesthesia.

Officials say that workers still disinfected areas of the school even though doctors said Russell's staph infection probably wasn't contagious.