Unimaginable horror after Illinois high school athlete, 18, trips over his own feet while warming up for triple jump
An Illinois high school senior has been left paralyzed after tripping over his own feet while warming up for a track meet.
Dylan Wescott, 18, was preparing for the triple jump at Rock Falls High School on March 15 when tragedy struck.
‘He was warming up in the triple jump, just doing run throughs, and as he was going through the sand, he tripped either over his own feet or over the sand, and kind of stumbled, and was kind of running as he was stumbling, and just fell head first into the wall,’ his track coach Eric Bontz told KWQC.
The teen, who also played basketball and gold for his school, was briefly unconscious after the collision, but when he came to, he had no feeling in his legs, reported the Sauk Valley News.
‘He’s like, mom, I broke my neck. I can’t move,’ his aunt, Kim Kilday, told the newspaper. ‘He knew immediately that it was bad.’
He was taken to Javon Bea Hospital discovered he has a broken vertebra in his neck, and two pressing on his spinal cord, according to a GoFundMe set up by his family.
After multiple surgeries to have two cages inserted to stabilize his neck and a vertebra was replaced with a titanium plate, the three-sport athlete is paralyzed from the chest down.
He was transported to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago where his family posts updates about his recovery from in a Facebook group called Dylan’s Journey.
Dylan Wescott, 18, was preparing for the triple jump at Rock Falls High School on March 15 when he tripped
The teen broke his neck and has been left paralyzed from the chest down. He was transported to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago to recover
Dylan’s father, Brian Wescott, shared an update on Monday that the two had a relaxing weekend together while trying to find some semblance of normalcy for the teen.
‘We worked on his breathing treatment to try to strengthen his core and his lung function to help him with learning to cough again,’ Brian said.
‘He still has no feeling from his mid chest down, but we still massage and bend his legs anyways.’
The determined father said he helped Dylan use his phone so he could get in touch with his friends.
‘I set up Dylan’s iPhone so he could reply to some of the kids on his Snapchat. We used the adaptive piece that holds his stylist, and he was able to scroll, take pictures, and reply all by himself,’ he said.
‘This was just a little bit of normalcy for him, he had the biggest smile while he was doing it.’
Dylan’s coach said the teen was a great teammate who is ‘the kind of kid every coach dreams about.’
‘He’s a very empathetic kid. Really cares a lot about everybody, not just himself. You know, he’s a fantastic teammate,’ the coach said.
The teen, who also played basketball and gold for his school, was briefly unconscious after the collision, but when he came to, he had no feeling in his legs
His determined father said he helped Dylan use his phone so he could get in touch with his friends
‘Like I said, if I could have all my kids with a mentality like that, it would be a wonderful thing, because, you know, just a very prompt kid. He was always on time, always cared about what he was doing, always gave his best efforts.’
Kilday said the family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community.
‘The outpouring of the community has been wonderful, but he’s got a long journey ahead of him, and that’s the toughest part, is all the unknowns and what he’s going to need when we do get to bring him home,’ she said.
