The 18-year-old North Carolina college baseball player smiles as he prepares to have his SECOND right leg amputated after a horrific boating accident
- Parker Byrd, 18, was involved in a boating accident while tubing on July 25
- The rope pulling the pipe caught the boat’s propeller and cut his legs
- Since then he has had 13 operations on his legs, including right amputation
- But doctors say they now have to amputate above the knee
- Byrd was scheduled to enroll as a freshman at East Carolina University on a baseball scholarship
A student at North Carolina University who received a scholarship to play baseball had his leg amputated a few weeks before he could start his studies.
Parker Byrd, 18, who only graduated from high school in June, was involved in a boating accident last month and had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after sustaining serious injuries to his legs in the accident.
But now he has received the devastating news that he will have to undergo another operation on the same leg, which will require doctors to cut away more of his leg – this time above the knee.
In the days following the July 25 accident, Byrd ended up in intensive care.
Parker Byrd, 18, was involved in a boating accident while tubing on July 25
The rope pulling the pipe caught the boat’s propeller and cut his legs. Family and friends were by his hospital bedside to support him
Byrd is pictured wearing an indoor frame after undergoing an amputation earlier this month
He was one of two people tubing on Bath Creek when he fell off his rubber tube.
Just as Byrd was approaching the boat that was towing him, which was supposed to be idling, the ski rope pulling the tube caught on the propeller, pulling Byrd towards the boat.
The propeller sliced across both of Bryd’s legs, causing severe, irreparable damage.
He was flown to ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville, where he has been since.
His mother, Mitzi Lee Byrd, explained how muscles in his leg needed to be reattached, but knew he would eventually have to undergo multiple surgeries.
Almost a month after the accident, Byrd has now had 13 surgeries.
Byrd has since had 13 operations on his legs, including amputation of his right
Doctors now say they will now have to amputate above the knee in an operation due to be performed on Friday
“It all still feels so unreal to me, like a bad nightmare I’m waking up from. I know we’re going to make it but I still can’t believe it’s a reality,” his mom tweeted.
Byrd, who was hoping to begin college life as a freshman at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, had received a scholarship to play baseball.
He was a standout player on his local baseball team, the South Charlotte Panthers
“We can’t begin to express our gratitude for the overwhelming amount of love and prayer,” wrote Mother Mitzi. “From calls, texts, messages, maps, care packages, donations and meals. We had friends who drove hours just to visit us for 15 minutes. We’ve had pastors make several trips just to pray with us.’
Byrd’s next operation is scheduled for Friday when more sections of his right leg will be amputated.
“Once the final surgery is complete he can begin rehab,” his mother Mitzi wrote on Facebook.
Once the surgery is complete, she says, her son is expected to be released to an apartment in Greenville, where he will continue treatment until the wound has healed. Then he starts rehab.
Byrd was scheduled to enroll as a freshman at East Carolina University on a baseball scholarship