North Texas teenager breaks his back in bizarre swimming pool accident

Semyon “SJ” Williams Jr. had an accident while trying to escape a wasp at a public pool in Frisco, Texas, on June 27. The 13-year-old jumped into the shallow end of the pool and hit his head on the bottom of the pool, according to his grandfather, which left the teenager paralyzed.

Accordingly NBC DFW5Louis Camper, the teenager’s grandfather, believes his grandson may not have realized he was jumping into shallow water.

“I assume there was panic, you know, a desperate measure to get out of harm’s way. SJ just jumped into the pool, but apparently he dove in without knowing how deep the pool was,” said Williams’ grandfather. “All he remembers is hitting his head, and he even stated that it felt like his arms weren’t part of his body because he couldn’t feel anything.”

Williams’ mother, Anya Camper, described the life-saving measures of his friend, who had also jumped into the water, NBC5. “He turns him over and asks him, ‘Are you playing?’ and SJ says he can talk, but he says, ‘I don’t feel anything.’ You know, he’s freaking out. He says, ‘Help me! I can’t feel anything — I can’t feel my arms, my legs. Help me, call my mom.'”

Williams’ mother continued: “Another child asked, ‘Are you SJ’s mom? Can you come to the pool with me because SJ is badly injured; he doesn’t feel anything. He hit his head,'” Anya Camper recalled. “I immediately screamed. You hear things like that, you see things like that, you never expect it to be your story until it happens. When it hits your front door, it shocks you, that’s what happened to us.”

Williams was taken to Children’s Health in Dallas, where the family

would know the extent of his injury. According to Bruno Braga, a neurosurgeon at Children’s Health and associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, the surgery on Williams was critical in stabilizing his injury. Although Braga did not perform the surgery on the teenager, he is familiar with it because his colleagues have performed the surgery.

“It stabilizes the bones so that there is no further injury. He has broken two vertebrae, the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, and he has broken parts that are in front of and behind the spinal cord, the vertebral canal that contains the spinal cord,” Braga explained. “The fact that he had no motor or sensory function below the injury site is not a good sign that he will recover well, but it is too early to say and we will just have to wait and see.”

Despite Braga’s pessimistic attitude, the family remains positive and grounded through their strong faith in God.

“We are people of faith and we have an army of people praying for him,” Anya Camper said. “We believe that anything, a miracle, will happen. The reality is that this is a long road. This is going to be a marathon for us and we have to support him and be with him every step of the way.”

Camper continued, “As a mother, this is just heartbreaking. I’m literally helpless. As a mother, you have to make things right, and I can’t do that. So I’m just praying for help in any way I can.”

Louis Camper, SJ Williams’ brother, has started a GoFundMe campaign for the teenager, which, at the time of this writing, has raised $63,863 of the original $100,000 goal. Camper writes, “If one of his friends hadn’t realized he wasn’t ‘just floating’ … my mother would have planned a funeral.”

Camper continued, “SJ was rushed to the hospital and we received absolutely devastating news. His spinal cord was severed to the point that he no longer has the use of his legs and arms.”

Camper concluded, “My mom, myself, my siblings and my family are strong believers. We refuse to believe this is SJ’s story. He is ONLY 13! He has WAY too much life ahead of him to truly LIVE AND FULLY ENJOY it. We trust and believe that God will perform a miracle and heal my brother! Just keep praying family. God can.”

Related content: Randy Cox receives ‘largest’ settlement in history, $45 million, after being paralyzed in a police car