By Billy Davis

As Magnolia Heights student Drew Bouchillon recovers at The Med from a tractor accident, the community is rallying to the side of the critically injured teenager.

The date of a planned blood drive for Bouchillon has been moved up two days, from July 7 to Saturday, July 5, due to overwhelming concern from the public.

“We’ve already got 70 people signed up,” Allison Burris, a cousin to Bouchillon, said of the planned blood drive by Lifeblood.

A pair of Lifeblood vans will be parked at Guaranty Bank in Senatobia from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Still other help for Bouchillon includes a special bank account set up a Guaranty Bank branches in Senatobia, Hernando and Batesville. A Boston butt fund-raiser concluded Monday.

Bouchillon, 17, was severely injured June 23 in a pasture near Como when he was thrown from the cab of a tractor and into the path of the tractor’s pasture clipper. A passing Panola County garbage truck crew saved him from further injury, and possibly saved his life, by stopping the tractor as it circled toward the teenager.  

The garbage truck crew included driver Ricky Armstrong and jail trusties Derek Joslin and Terry Potts.

The farming implement injured Bouchillon’s lower back, and his legs have since been amputated due to the accident.

At Magnolia Heights, Bouchillon is a rising senior and plays football for the Chiefs.

According to Burris, the teenager’s fever dropped from 103 to 100 by Monday.

“Right now infection is the biggest problem,” she said. Doctors are cleaning and irrigating the leg wounds and plan to keep doing so at least every other day, she said.

Medical updates on Bouchillon are being posted on CaringBridge.com, a personalized Web site for people facing serious medical conditions, hospitilization and medical treatment.

Bouchillon’s CaringBridge Web site also includes a biography, photos and a guestbook. A link can be found at www.magnoliaheights.com.