UPDATE: High school student in serious condition at Lincoln hospital after sledding accident
It was supposed to be a fun night of sledding for Wilber–Clatonia junior Tyler Hooper and his friends but instead it turned into a nightmare.
Saturday night just after 8 p.m. Hooper was being pulled on a sled behind a truck.
What happened next landed the 17–year–old in the intensive care unit at Bryan West.
We spoke to his dad Justin
“He collided with a mailbox post basically,” Justin Hooper, Tyler’s dad, said.
Crete Fire and Rescue transported Hooper to Bryan West where he underwent emergency surgery to relieve the bleeding and swelling in his brain.
The teen responded well to the surgery and Monday morning the track star and football player opened his eyes and squeezed his mom’s hand.
While Hooper has a long road to recovery the big step forward comes as no surprise to one of his track coaches.
“Just with the progress we’ve heard from yesterday to today he might be back and recovered sooner than most people would be because he’s a very determined young man,” Ray Uher, the assistant track coach at Wilber-Clatonia, said.
As Hooper continues to recover it’s not known what the long term effects from his injury will be.
His dad said their biggest hope is other kids learn from Hooper’s accident, “If Tyler could talk about it he would probably just hope that if any other kids could see or hear about this story you know maybe it would make them think about the dangers of what they’re doing a little bit more.”
A gofundme has been set up to help the family pay for medical expenses. If you would like to donate you can do so by clicking here.
