A high school football star was left paralyzed after diving into shallow water, snapping one of his vertebrae.
Carson Pforsich of Santa Rosa, California, was meeting friends in Bodega Bay for a dip, as he has countless times before.
The late September swell was brisk but refreshing, and the tide was in, giving the illusion of greater depth.
Mr Pforsich, 17 at the time, dove into the deceptively shallow swell and hit the seafloor, breaking vertebrae and knocking his spine out of alignment.
He lay facedown in the water, unable to move, until friends and a passing paramedic swooped in to save his life.
He told KTVU from his hospital bed at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital: ‘As soon as I hit my head on the ground, I was paralyzed, I couldn’t move.’
The off-duty fireman happened to be walking by when he saw the incident, which took place in 2017, and ran over to help carry the motionless boy to the beach all the while trying to stabilize his neck and prevent further injury.
The fireman summoned the Sonoma County Sheriff’s helicopter, which he guided to the exact location.
Mr Pforsich was transported to the hospital, where he underwent a three-hour operation to realign his spine.
Carson Pforsich is pictured in 2024 with his girlfriend Desi D’Ancona. In 2017, Carson broke his neck when he dove into water that proved too shallow
The accident left Mr Pforsich paralyzed from the middle of the chest down, a result of a broken vertibrae and a misaligned spine
A day after his surgery, Mr Pforsich regained some movement in his arms and could feel nurses wiping his back.
His father Andy, a long time Sonoma County firefighter, said at the time: ‘He’s a strong kid. It’s the height of football season, so he’s in the best physical shape a kid could be in. I’m so optimistic.’
A broken vertebrae and misaligned spine often press on surrounding nerves and can cause numbness and weakness, if not total paralysis, in areas below the injury.
He spent about a month in intensive rehabilitation, learning to lift himself into his wheelchair and keep his muscles from atrophying.
His occupational therapist said: ‘Carson faced his injury and the realities of it with more bravery than I have seen in most grown men who come through our unit.
‘He was eager to learn new ways to do things every day and was even able to laugh and make us laugh, too.’
His football coach called Carson the heart of their team. For his fellow players, seeing their friend and leader so severely injured shook their confidence, even after a stellar win the previous week.
Coach James Foster said: ‘All the kids rally around him, so obviously this is tough.
Carson was a high school football star who would never get the chance to play the game again
‘But he’s the kind of person who would want us to push on and keep working hard.’
Now 24, Mr Pforsich uses a wheelchair to get around. He is currently studying to become a certified personal accountant.
He is thanking his Sonoma community for organizing a fundraiser to help defray the costs of his care, wheelchair, and outfitting his home to become handicap accessible by organizing a fundraiser to do the same for other people who sustained spinal cord injuries.
He said: ‘It’s to not only spread awareness of their stories but really spread awareness of what life is like with a spinal cord injury in general and how difficult it can be.’
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