High School Track Athlete, 18, Paralyzed After Crashing into Brick Wall During Meet

A community in Illinois is rallying around a high school athlete after he broke his neck in an accident at a track meet.

Dylan Wescott, 18, was warming up for the triple jump just before the first meet of the season when the accident occurred on Saturday, March 15 at Westwood Sports Complex in Sterling, Ill., according to NBC affiliate KWQC-TV and the Sauk Valley News.

The three-sport athlete tripped in the sand and fell head-first into a padded brick wall that was just a few feet from the sand pit at the indoor facility, the newspaper reported.

After the accident, Wescott was briefly unconscious before he came to and told his mom Nicol that he knew what had happened, his aunt Kim Kilday told the outlet.

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“He’s like, ‘Mom, I broke my neck. I can’t move,’ ” Kilday said. “He knew immediately that it was bad.”

Wescott was transported to a local hospital where it was determined that he had broken a vertebra in his neck and had two vertebrae pressing on his spinal cord, according to a GoFundMe organized by his family.

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The high school senior underwent multiple surgeries and was transferred to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab rehab facility in Chicago, where he has been making progress in the month since his accident, family members said.

On Friday, April 11, the family shared a video on Facebook of Dylan’s most recent accomplishments in rehab the day before, playing bocce ball with a recreation therapist.

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"Thursday was our absolute BEST therapy day here!!” his mother Nicol Wescott wrote. “I can’t even explain how well he did and the improvements today.”

Friends and family members say Dylan’s positive outlook has helped him make quick progress in a short period of time.

“He’s a very empathetic kid. Really cares a lot about everybody, not just himself,” his track coach Eric Bontz told KWQC. “You know, he’s a fantastic teammate. If I could have all my kids with a mentality like that, it would be a wonderful thing … He was always on time, always cared about what he was doing, always gave his best efforts.”

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