Seven weeks after a “freak accident” left Gavin Kamoschinski with a broken neck after swimming in Okanagan Lake, his family says some slight progress has been made.
On Aug. 16, Gavin was swimming and dove off a dock at Hobson Beach.
Tragically, the aspiring football player, who was 16 at the time, fractured three vertebrae and had to be flown to Vancouver for an emergency five-hour surgery.
According to a Sept. 8 update on the GoFundMe page set up for Gavin and his family, the young man just celebrated his 17th birthday surrounded by friends and family.
The update says he has been moved out of the intensive care unit and is recovering in a private room, which is allowing him to sit up in a chair for a little while every day.
In addition, Gavin is able to talk now that a feeding tube has been removed, a huge improvement in being able to communicate with his family.
The update says Gavin is also “surpassing the schedule (doctors) have laid out for him” and is breathing up to nine hours on his own, without the help of a ventilator.
When the 17-year-old broke his neck, he lost movement in his hands and legs.
“As his body has had more time to heal.... Gavin has had some upper body movement with more dominance on his right side than his left,” the update says.
“He’s getting more sensations again with the right side being dominant. As he says, my left side is still a bit sleepy.”
Unfortunately, he is still battling nerve pain throughout his body.
Although some slight progress has been made, Gavin still has a long road of recovery ahead of him.
“Where the recovery ends up we have yet to see, however we are taking the little wins one at a time,” the update explains.
To date, more than $107,000 has been raised for Gavin and his family, more than half of the $200,000 goal.
