Teen paralyzed after jumping into a pool to escape a wasp

DALLAS, Texas (KTVT) – A 13-year-old boy in Texas could end up a quadriplegic after jumping into a swimming pool to avoid a wasp.

“It was a normal day,” the teen’s mother Anya Camper said. “He came running downstairs telling me he wanted to go swimming with his friends and me. I told him, no he didn’t need to go.”

But Camper eventually caved in and let her son, Semyon Williams Jr. go swimming.

Witnesses said the teen tried to dodge a wasp at a pool, dove into the water, and submerged in peril.

“He’s not sure exactly what type of dive he did. The only thing he remembers is waking up, laying face down in the pool, taking in water,” Camper said.

SJ, as his mom calls him, is a football player and an avid swimmer who could not make his skills surface for one stroke.

“He couldn’t move. He was literally drinking water,” Camper said. “So, it’s hard to hear, you know, all of it is hard to hear. But when he literally told me, ‘Mom, I thought I was going to drown because I couldn’t move.’”

A friend helped rescue him from the pool as emergency crews took him to the hospital.

Doctors told Camper SJ’s neck was fractured and required surgery. Then, they told the teen’s family that his dive into the pool shattered his spinal cord.

SJ is paralyzed and may never use his arms, hands, legs or feet again.

“As a mom, it’s just gut-wrenching, literally helpless. He’s looking to me to fix it. And that’s one thing I can’t do. I can’t fix this. So, it’s ... it’s hard,” Camper said.

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