A 16-year-old with the world at his feet may never walk again after a horrific accident on Christmas Day left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Wyatt Bignell was playing in the backyard pool of his home in Melbourne's eastern suburbs when a harmless dip changed his life forever.
“I went in, grazed the water and slid through, but on this occasion I went too far under water and hit my head on the bottom,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
'I was terrified. I was floating with my head in the water and my sister turned me around and then I shouted: “I can't feel my legs, call an ambulance”.'
Elizabeth Bignell was standing outside watching her children while her husband Wayne was inside preparing shrimp when she heard her son's cries for help.
'It was just a freak accident. He wasn't acting strange or drinking or anything like that,” Ms Bignell said.
“We tend to play it over and over again. When it happened, I was just sitting there and he said to me, “Mom, I can't feel my legs.”
“It sounds really strange because he was standing in the pool in front of me when he said that, and he said he meant it and that he had to call an ambulance.”
16-year-old Melbourne teen Wyatt Bignell was left paralyzed from the chest down after diving headfirst into his family's backyard pool on Christmas Day
The 16-year-old (pictured) was a promising AFL footballer before the Christmas Day tragedy
Wyatt was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery on Boxing Day after doctors discovered he had suffered a C4 neck fracture – one of the worst possible spinal injuries.
“The surgeons were very happy with the operation and what they were able to do for Wyatt,” Ms Bignell said.
The teen is in the very early stages of recovery and has no movement from his chest down. Although he has no feeling in his hands yet, he can move his arms.
In an early promising sign, small tingles have returned to his body, but the keen sportsman – who played Aussies Rules for the Kilsyth Cougars – is realistic about his chances of ever walking again, which he described as 'low'.
However, his spinal cord injury was incomplete, meaning it was not completely severed.
“My muscles are getting stronger, but it's not perfect yet,” he said.
Wyatt's parents cannot work while caring for their son full-time.
“It's been a tough time but we're trying to get through it,” Ms Bignell said.
“His father and I take turns when we stay with him at night.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Bignell family through this tough ordeal and has so far raised nearly $8,000 of the $12,000 goal.
