Holden Trent's Fight Inside Soccer's Elite Pipeline

Holden Trent’s family turned to clinical trials after other treatments for his Crohn’s disease weren’t working. “We had no choice. He wasn’t gonna make it when he was 10 if we didn’t enter a clinical trial,” his mother, Annie B. Carter, said. The family didn’t know what the drugs might do to his body. They knew he needed a chance to keep living—and playing soccer.

Trent, a Philadelphia Union goalkeeper and former High Point standout, died at 25 after a cardiac event, his family said. He didn’t wake up at home in Greensboro, North Carolina, on the morning of Oct. 23, 2024. His death was announced on Oct. 26. His family said they didn’t know whether Crohn’s disease was connected to the cardiac event.

The cost behind the uniform

Trent’s illness was largely invisible to his teammates. The Philadelphia Union medical team knew about his condition, but Trent didn’t want coaches to treat him differently or assume he couldn’t do something. Union defender Nathan Harriel, who shared a room with him, said he never saw Trent take medication. Harriel and goalkeeper coach Phil learned about the illness from Carter in the intensive care unit; many teammates learned about it at Liza’s celebration-of-life speech.

The body carrying that private burden had been breaking since childhood. Trent’s mother said he had 14 breaks by age 12 and 23 broken bones by age 18. He had undergone nine sets of tubes in his ears by age 20 and was partially deaf in one ear after a burst eardrum. Doctors diagnosed Kawasaki disease when he was 5, followed shortly by Crohn’s disease. His family said a leading pediatric Crohn’s specialist called his condition “the worst they’d seen.” Tests for brittle bone disease were inconclusive.

Crohn’s disease shaped the ordinary logistics of training. Trent couldn’t eat before games or practices because he feared needing the restroom. Carter picked him up from school early so he could eat and have time to process the food before training. At the Union, he made six starts for the second team. He later faced a choice between fusing a broken finger or losing it; he chose the fusion, knowing it would probably end his career.

The people who showed up

His family and friends gathered at the hospital after he was taken to intensive care. Carter said the unit normally allowed no more than two visitors, but she let people come in to say goodbye. “I wanted people to have that closure,” she said. “Then I would stay the night with him by myself.” Coaches, teammates, friends and Losito’s family traveled to North Carolina. “For three days, it was a parade of people,” said former goalkeeper coach Josh Gillon.

Trent had signed up as an organ donor. Carter recalled him saying, “If I could keep someone from feeling as crappy as I felt growing up, have at it.” That impulse to help others also shaped the family’s response after his death.

The (Holden Trent) Goal 13 Foundation offers character-education workshops and pairs young athletes with mentors, aiming to foster “leadership, resilience, and strong personal character in student-athletes nationwide.” Carter, a former special education teacher, said she wanted to address the risks of young athletes having one-dimensional lives while pursuing sports. High Point established a scholarship in Trent’s name for first-generation college students at Carter’s request.

Building support beyond the field

The family’s fundraising includes an annual golf tournament in Trent’s name and the Holden Trent Community Cup soccer competition. This year’s cup included Inter Miami’s second team and a game between High Point and the University of North Carolina. An online auction offered a signed Carolina Hurricanes jersey, identified as belonging to the 2026 Stanley Cup winners, and autographed gloves from Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.

The family had also hosted aspiring young soccer players in its Greensboro home. Trent often gave up his bedroom and slept on a blow-up bed so prospects could stay, urging his mother to host them. Steven James became so close to the family that they considered him Trent’s adopted brother. These acts of care didn’t erase the medical uncertainty or the career-ending injury. They show what people built around him when a life in sport demanded so much.

Trent’s path through soccer was narrow even before illness and injuries entered the calculation. Philadelphia Union director of goalkeeping Phil Wheddon said only 1.4% of college soccer players are drafted into MLS and 46.7% of those sign a professional contract. At High Point, Trent became captain, led the team to its first men’s NCAA tournament victory, a 2-0 win over North Carolina, and was named the college’s 2023 Athlete of the Year. His mother said he wrote that he “had reached every dream he ever had.”