Joe Yates
A 13-year-old has been left paralyzed after trying to escape from a wasp while at the neighborhood pool.
It was the first day of summer (20 June) in North Texas and Seymon Williams Jr Camper, known as SJ, had pleaded with his mom to allow him to go to the community pool.
But when a wasp came buzzing nearby, it was enough to see SJ panic and dive into the shallow end of the swimming pool in an attempt to dodge it.
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Speaking to KTVT, mom Anya Camper said: "It was a normal day, you know. He came running downstairs telling me he was wanting to go swim with his friends.
"Basically, him and his friends were just playing running away from a wasp and he just takes off and just dives in the pool.
"He's not sure exactly what type of dive he did."
The next thing SJ, an avid swimmer and football player, remembers is waking up face down in the water - drowning.
The mom-of-four continued: "He couldn't move. He was literally drinking water. So it's hard to hear.
"He literally told me, 'Mom, I thought I was going to drown because I couldn't move.'"
Fortunately, one of SJ's friend's, who'd initially thought he was 'playing' while floating face down, rescued him from the water and called his mom.
His family then raced to Children's Health in Dallas.
SJ's grandfather, Louis Camper, believes they beat the ambulance to Children's Health in Dallas, adding: "We all met in the ER. And of course, it's chaotic, you know, because when they bring him in, there's all sorts of folks, you know, specialist trauma, you know, people, the nurses."
Following a series of scans and an MRI, it was discovered that the teen had fractured his neck and spine, and had to have surgery the following day.
Doctors later explained that his spinal cord was shattered as a result of the injury, and that he may never be able to use his arms, hands, feet and legs again.
His grandfather said: "And so we are true faith believers. And, you know, it's not over, you know, until God say so."
Anya said: "We're praying and believing that God will do a miracle ... perform a miracle on my son because he has too much more for life to live."
She also said it is 'gut-wrenching' to be 'literally helpless', adding: "He's looking to me to fix it. And that's one thing I can't do. I can't fix this. So it's hard."
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the family who are seeking to raise $100,000 to pay for medical bills, and has already raised more than $60,000 at the time of writing.
Speaking of the incident on the page, which was set up by one of SJ's brothers, it read: "His friends said they thought he was just floating and playing at first.
"If it weren’t for one of his friends realizing that he wasn’t “just floating”…my mom would would’ve been planning a funeral."
Adding: "SJ has been admitted to PICU [Pediatric Intensive Care Unit]. The fractured bones were repaired.
"However, the spinal cord is the main stem of the body, and we’re being told it's not repairable."