New Hampshire teen, 19, fighting for life with a broken neck after freak accident on popular beach
A 19-year-old has been left fighting for his life after he broke his neck at a popular New Hampshire beach during what was supposed to be a fun day with his cousins.
Aiden Sloan went to Hampton Beach with his family on Monday afternoon to cool off from the heat when a dive into the waves changed his life forever.
When Sloan dove into the water he smashed into a sandbar 'head-on,' leaving his body motionless, his mother Melina Burton told NBC10 Boston.
'They were diving into the waves like kids do. And there was a sandbar that nobody could have known was there, so he dove through a wave and he hit the sandbar head-on,' Burton said.
Her son was immediately left unable to move and stopped breathing, leaving his cousins to take action.
'We looked at his eyes. They were, like, bulging out of his face,' Michael Henry, one of Sloan's cousins recalled.
Henry and Sloan's other cousin, Gabriel Ruiz, then rushed over and quickly dragged him to the beach.
'He was just, like, not moving at all. It was like we were carrying a dead body,' Ruiz said.
Sloan, a chef at a restaurant in Nashua - about 40 minutes outside of Concord- was left with a bruised spine, a broken neck and a concussion. He is currently in intensive care.
His worried mother has been left rocked by the freak accident, especially after he told her how he struggled to make it to the surface after banging his head.
'He said "When I came to, mom, I could see the top of the water, but my arms and legs wouldn't work, and I couldn't get myself to the top to get air",' Burton recalled.
She said he can't move his right leg at all, can't lift his arms and cannot wiggle his fingers or clench his hands.
Burton added: 'On his left foot, he can wiggle his toes minimally.
'It's really heartbreaking to know that your child is injured and he's in pain and there's nothing that you can do for him.'
Despite his grave injuries, Sloan's mother is extremely grateful his cousins were there to rescue him from the water.
'They're actually really great kids, and they're handling it so well. I did check in with both of them. Michael, the one that actually pulled Aiden out of the water, was here yesterday. And I said, "Can I give you a hug?",' Burton told Fox News Digital.
'I said, "I am so, so grateful to you for rescuing my boy and pulling him out of the water," because he probably would not even be here today if you had not done that. So I will forever be grateful.'
Michael McMahon, the Hampton Beach fire chief, said he's previously dove into the very same waves as Sloan.
'He was diving into the water into the waves, I've done it a thousand times, and I think it was more shallow than he expected,' McMahon told the outlet.
He noted that this wasn't the first time he was called to a similar scene, but it's not an occurrence that happens often.
'Sometimes, we go to calls and people are doing dumb things and drugs and alcohol and this was not how we saw this. This was just a kid at the beach because it was hot, and he got hurt in a terribly unfortunate way.'
A GoFundMe page was created to help Sloan and his single mother after he 'misguided the depth' of the water.
In an update from Friday, Burton said he has been doing physical therapy 'on his own terms' and has suffered from nightmares where he feels like he 'was drowning again.'
'He's frustrated that all he can do is lay there,' she wrote, adding that he's been enjoying the little things in the hospital, including 'a metric ton of OJ, Italian ice and ice cream.
Burton said he has also been prescribed medicine for the nightmare and anxiety he's been experiencing.
Sloan is currently unable to work at his job as a cook for Noodle Bar - a restaurant located in Nash Casino.
As of Sunday morning, more than $37,000 was raised to help Sloan and his mother.
Sandbars often cause waves to break suddenly and are known to be extremely dangerous for both swimmers and surfers.
They are also known as inshore holes that are created by waves and currents pushing sand into mounds, according to OC Lifeguards.
The mountains of underwater sand are also known to disappear and shift around constantly.
Beach-goers are urged to exercise extreme caution in the water to avoid sandbars, whether you are swimming, surfing, diving or boating.
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