The family of a high school track athlete who was paralyzed last month during a meet is now seeking donations to help in his recovery.
Dylan Wescott, a senior at Rock Falls (Ill.) High School, was warming up for the triple jump when he slipped and hit his head late last month.
“I was next to him when he hit his head and I was holding his hand and I was there for a while,” Issac Duchay, a friend of Dylan's, told QC News. “When I was tapping his leg, he said he couldn’t feel it.”
“He ended up breaking his C-7 vertebra in his neck,” said Kim Kilday, Dylan’s aunt. “He had a couple others that were pressed against his spinal cord. So he has suffered paralysis from his chest down.”
Since then, Dylan has spent time in a hospital in Rockford before moving to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. He's had two surgeries that took a total of 14 hours.
Dylan's family and community are now trying to help raise funds to pay for his medical bills.
“All kinds of schools have reached out to me and I know the family as well,” said Eric Bontz, Dylan’s track and field coach at Rock Falls High School. “I know a lot of them have done their own fundraisers to help support Dylan. It’s been really crazy just watching how much actually people care about things like this, and it’s good to see.”
