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Football: UL player – ‘We’re gonna be a family again’Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Nov. 5, 2016 Click here for video announcement. Kamar Greenhouse stands proudly in the photo, purple mortarboard matching his gown, celebrating his 2015 graduation from Marksville High. His mother, Allison, is just in front, a necklace paired perfectly with her dangling earrings. Both are beaming; they knew this was quite an accomplishment. Not everyone earns a high school diploma. It can be especially tough in Marksville, where the median household income is around $24,000, more than 50 percent below the national average. Most of Kamar’s friends did not graduate. Allison dropped out of school to care for her ailing mother. But Kamar made it, and he did so with an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship in hand. “She can’t be happier for me,” Kamar Greenhouse said. “And that picture, you could just see. “That’s why I look at it every day. It gives me the strength I need, just because she’s smiling in that picture. I’m smiling, too. And we’re right beside each other.” Allison Ann Greenhouse died unexpectedly Oct. 24, a mother of four gone at age 43. “She was a caring mom. She was a loving parent,” Greenhouse said. “She gave you she what had. “Everybody knows her for just (being) a hard-working lady, and just loving and caring. I miss her like crazy, too. I just feel incomplete, you know?” The Saturday before she died, oldest son Kamar — a redshirt freshman defensive back for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette football team — made his Ragin’ Cajun debut in a 27-3 win at Texas State. The following Saturday, he was back home in Marksville for a funeral that might not have happened if it weren’t for an NCAA-approved GoFundMe campaign created by the UL athletic department. Word spread via social media and traditional media avenues. More than $14,000 has been raised to help with final expenses and related monetary needs, including medical care in Allison Greenhouse’s last days. That’s just shy of the fund’s $15,000 goal, and it reflects an outpouring of support from Lafayette, Marksville and even locales outside Louisiana. (Donations still can be made on the Allison Greenhouse Funeral Expenses GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/allison-greenhouse-funeral-expenses-2w4jzqs) “If it wasn’t for the GoFundMe,” Greenhouse said, “I don’t know if we … would have had the money in time.” With that concern, the Greenhouse family faced the possibility of not having a service. That’s something Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth said he considered “unacceptable,” which is why he and UL launched their campaign. “I’ll tell you, I’m blown away about how the community responded,” said Hudspeth, who is banned by NCAA rules from covering expenses himself. “I’m just very heartfelt, and very appreciative, for this community. And not just the community. We had a lot of former players who went online and gave, whether it’s $50 or $100.” Current teammates, too. Their parents. Classmates. At least one Cajun basketball player. And more anonymous donors than one can count without losing track. In all, at least 266 individuals, couples or families contributed in amounts ranging from $5 to $9 (representing Kamar’s UL uniform number) to plenty at $25, a couple $500 gifts and even one of $1,000. “Him and his siblings went through a very difficult time,” Hudspeth said. “I think things are starting to level out for him just a little bit with the younger children. But just the way everybody responded enabled his family to just have a proper ceremony for his mom.” She was a providerGreenhouse turns shy when anyone brings up the GoFundMe campaign. It’s a matter of pride. He doesn’t wants his family’s reputation painted with the wrong brush. It’s not as if his mother didn’t work to provide. Oh, she worked. And worked. And worked some more, spending more than 20 years as a housekeeper at Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville. “But we needed the help,” Greenhouse said. “That’s a blessing that everybody pitched in.” Especially at a time like this. That’s why it’s OK to accept the kindness that comes from so many hearts, UL secondary coach Charlie Harbison suggested. “It showed him how much people care about him and love him,” Harbison said. “The Bible says, ‘No man’s an island,’ meaning, you’ve got to be able to lean on one another and help one another. “I know a lot of kids like to be private. I understand that. Us as adults like to stay private,” the Cajun assistant added. “But when something like that happens in the community, and the people that love you support you, that’s a great thing.” The aid really was needed for a family now split so many ways. Before he left for college, Kamar and his siblings — each with different fathers — all lived under Allison’s roof. Not any longer, though. “There’s no (Greenhouse family) home to go to anymore when they ‘go home’ for the weekends or home for the summer or Christmas break,” Hudspeth said. Greenhouse’s youngest brother, 5-year-old Malik, is with his father in Marksville. His 12-year-old brother, O’Keshion, is with his father in Lake Charles. And his 19-year-old sister, Audreyanna, stays separately in Marksville. But 20-year-old Kamar, now off alone at school? Allison was his rock. READ MORE: She wasn’t told, but mother may know Greenhouse played “My mom, she was the greatest parent, the best parent she could be being an independent, single parent,” he said. “My dad’s been in prison all my life. … But my mom’s always been there. She always told me growing up, ‘I’m your mom and your dad.’ She chastised me.” Disciplined him with a firm hand, too, especially as he grew up in a neighborhood his high school coach, J.T. Dunbar, referred to as “the projects.” “I knew I had to be back before the street lights (came on),” Greenhouse said. More often than not, he made it. But once in a while, especially with his mother working like she did, Kamar cut left when he should have gone right. “He kind of grew up, I’d guess you would say, a tough life,” said Dunbar, also Marksville’s athletic director. Dunbar got to know Greenhouse when the youngster played football as a seventh-grader. “He got in trouble a little bit in school. Nothing major. Just little things,” the high school coach said. “He kind of had a chip on his shoulder. And the kid grew up, probably, I would say, after his freshman year.” That same year, Greenhouse started at free safety during Marksville’s state-semifinals playoff run. “We had some great leaders on that football team, and — along with the coaching staff — that helped direct him and just turn out to really be a great student,” Dunbar said. “You’re talking about a kid that struggled early on, and ended up realizing he had an opportunity to maybe do something in football on the collegiate level.” ‘If she hadn’t raised me …’Southern Mississippi, McNeese State and a couple junior colleges showed interest in Greenhouse. Northwestern State had him on campus. UL began watching him prior to his junior season in high school, and invited him to one of its recruiting camps. One problem. His mother had no car to get him there. Enter Dunbar, who took Greenhouse to all the camps he could. “J.T. Dunbar. Good coach,” Greenhouse said. “Great coach.” Great opportunity. READ MORE: UL’s Greenhouse ready to make impact When he made it to Lafayette, Greenhouse knew the city and school were for him. “UL was winning,” he said, “and I just liked the red, and I liked the whole environment.” Tim Edwards, now a defensive line coach at the University of Buffalo, recruited Greenhouse for the Cajuns, along with then-UL secondary coach Tim Rebowe, now Nicholls State’s head coach. When Edwards paid an in-house visit, and a scholarship offer was formalized, Allison knew all was going to be well for her biggest boy. “She cried. I cried. Coach Ed came to the crib, so he knew how it was dealing with financial problems,” Greenhouse said. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that scholarship, and she knows that, and I know that. “And I feel like if she hadn’t raised me like she did, and keep me off the streets, and always in the gym and on the field, somebody’s field, I wouldn’t be here.” Allison Greenhouse wasn’t the mother who made it to all of Kamar’s games. She wasn’t even the mother who was home for her kids every minute of the day. But those who knew her testify she was forever working for them. “His mom worked around the clock,” Dunbar said. “So he understood (why) his mom was working. “As a young kid growing up, I don’t think that you always realize that. “But I think as he started to get 14, 15, 16 years old, he started to mature a little bit,” the Marksville coach added, “and I think he realized, ‘Mom may not be around a whole bunch, but that’s because she’s trying to provide the best she can for the family.’” Coaches, team lend supportThe Cajuns welcomed Greenhouse with open arms. At first, though, fitting in was tough. Greenhouse graduated early from high school and took part in UL’s spring practice during what otherwise would have been his final semester at Marksville. It is his second season with the Cajuns, and he’s still playing mostly on the scout team. His appearance at Texas State came late in the game, on UL’s kickoff coverage team. But then there the funeral a week later, on a rare Saturday without a Cajun game or a practice. Hudspeth was there with his wife — “Miss Tyla,” to Greenhouse. “This whole process, he’s been there for me,” Greenhouse said. Harbison was there, as was UL running backs coach Marquase Lovings. Two of Greenhouse’s close Cajun teammates, Kaleb Fredericks and Ed Thompson, were there. Three members of UL’s academic support staff were there as well, including “two ladies from study hall.” Greenhouse was moved, by those who donated and those who took time from their weekend to travel 150 miles round trip for the service at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Marksville. “It took a little while for me to … start making plays, and Coach acknowledging me,” he said. “But for people to just be doing that, helping me, it made feel a part of the team. “To have them coaches there, that made me feel good. That made me smile… They wanted to be there for me, being my coaches and being part of my family.” Greenhouse seemed especially touched that Harbison made it. He had spent the prior two days on the road recruiting, and didn’t return to Lafayette until around midnight the night before. But the secondary coach got some sleep, then drove north to be there. “I tell my guys all the time I love them,” Harbison said. “And you can see love. But you’ve got to show you love them.” ‘We’re gonna be a family again’The last time Greenhouse talked with his mother, she was watching a movie with youngest son, Malik. A couple days later, he hit the weight room at UL. “I was having a good day,” Greenhouse said, “and after workout I had a text from sister saying, ‘Please text me. Please call me.’ “As soon I called her … she was just crying like crazy. She told me the news, and I broke down. Coach (Hudspeth) let me go home that day.” Allison Greenhouse’s kidneys had failed. Kamar rushed to Bunkie General Hospital, near Marksville. “It was so bad, it was really scary to see her,” he said. “Because I was like, ‘That’s not how my mom’s supposed to look.’ She looked like she was really in pain.” She later was moved to a hospital in Alexandria, and then to Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans. For about two weeks, she was in a coma. And she had swelling on her brain. When the Cajuns lost a quadruple-overtime game at Tulane back on Sept. 24, Allison, according to Kamar, was out of the coma but on a respirator. UL coaches allowed Greenhouse to spend all of game day at his mother’s bedside. “He thought she heard him,” Hudspeth said, “and that meant a lot to him, because he had not had a chance to see her very much since she’d gotten sick.” Kamar is certain Allison was aware of his presence. “Up to that game,” Greenhouse said, “we (weren’t) able to look at each other, because she was really sick at the time and her eyes weren’t open, and she wasn’t looking. “But at Tulane, they told me before I went in the room she was doing good. I went in … and she was looking at me, and she was following me around the room.” At one point, Kamar remembers Allison grabbing his hand. “Squeezed my hand tight, gave me a thumbs up — letting me know she knows I was there and she could see me move around,” he said. “That was great, to just see her. That was, like, the last positive memory.” When he got back on the team bus to return to Lafayette, Greenhouse was convinced his mother was on the road to recovery. , near Marksville. “It was so bad, it was really scary to see her,” he said. “Because I was like, ‘That’s not how my mom’s supposed to look.’ She looked like she was really in pain.” She later was moved to a hospital in Alexandria, and then to Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans. For about two weeks, she was in a coma. And she had swelling on her brain. When the Cajuns lost a quadruple-overtime game at Tulane back on Sept. 24, Allison, according to Kamar, was out of the coma but on a respirator. UL coaches allowed Greenhouse to spend all of game day at his mother’s bedside. “He thought she heard him,” Hudspeth said, “and that meant a lot to him, because he had not had a chance to see her very much since she’d gotten sick.” Kamar is certain Allison was aware of his presence. “Up to that game,” Greenhouse said, “we (weren’t) able to look at each other, because she was really sick at the time and her eyes weren’t open, and she wasn’t looking. “But at Tulane, they told me before I went in the room she was doing good. I went in … and she was looking at me, and she was following me around the room.” At one point, Kamar remembers Allison grabbing his hand. “Squeezed my hand tight, gave me a thumbs up — letting me know she knows I was there and she could see me move around,” he said. “That was great, to just see her. That was, like, the last positive memory.” When he got back on the team bus to return to Lafayette, Greenhouse was convinced his mother was on the road to recovery. Allison was moved again, this time to Kindred Hospital in New Orleans for rehab. “The doctor was like, ‘For her to come through that, that’s the Lord.’ They (were) in awe from it,” Greenhouse said. “So she was doing good. She was doing great. And it just happened so fast.” That’s why Greenhouse was so shocked when the next call came. The respirator removed, his sister had told Kamar that Allison was able — and very much wanted — to finally talk with him again. “So I was trying to call her,” he said, “but I couldn’t get in touch.” He figured maybe it was just an issue with the phone in her room, and some time passed. Then he got word. On Oct. 24 — two days after her son ran down the field at Texas State’s Bobcat Stadium, playing his first game as a Cajun — Allison Greenhouse had what Kamar said was a seizure. CPR attempts failed. Greenhouse never got a chance to tell his mother he had made his college debut. “Being the oldest in this situation,” he said, “I understand that I really have to be strong.” Greenhouse’s eyes seem to water. He knows it’s OK to show emotion. But he’s tried to hold back, especially for his siblings — far flung as they are. “We all hurt, but … I can’t be crying or just moping around and giving up,” Greenhouse said. “Now I really have to … be the best role model I can to them, and get my education, because I have a chance to, an opportunity to, and continue to ball, and just prevail, you know?” Greenhouse has plans — maybe not for this year, but in years soon to come. They have nothing to do with kickoff coverage, nothing to do with playing cornerback. His plans are all about his sister and brothers. “I want to be the one that (is) able to get them down for the holidays,” he said. “They can come to my spot one day. They can be at home. … We’re gonna be a family again.”
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