Courtesy photo

Avery Robinson

ANDERSON COUNTY — A ninth-grade Pendleton student died after surgery around 5 a.m. Tuesday, Pendleton High School Principal Danny Merck said.

Avery Robinson, 14, had gone into the hospital for unspecified treatment. Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said the teen died as the result of hemorrhage in the pancreas, but as of Tuesday evening, officials weren’t sure why. Shore said the cause of death is natural but inconclusive.

“We are trying to determine what caused him to have a hemorrhage, whether it was cancerous or what,” Shore said. “We just don’t know. We do know it was nontraumatic. Our pathologist is continuing to review the organs. We hope to have a full diagnosis over the next day or two.”

One possibility is some rare disease that never had been diagnosed, Shore said. Avery had been at football practice, but no injury caused the hemorrhage, Shore said. The coroner added, however, that dehydration might have been a trigger.

Avery was a wide receiver on the junior varsity football team and “a wonderful kid,” Merck said. “Everyone loved him.”

Avery was an avid fan of the high school football team “and did everything he could to help out,” Merck said. Avery’s brother, Harold Robinson, played for the varsity team.

Counselors have been brought in from all over Pendleton-based Anderson School District 4 to meet with students at the high school, Merck said.

“He just had a good spirit about him,” Merck said about Avery. “The faculty was devastated, and students are too, because he had such a good nature about him.”

Avery attended Riverside Middle School last year.

Reporter Julie Belschner contributed to this story.