Swimmer recovering from spinal injuryRSS Feed

A spinal injury has left a promising young swimmer in a hospital bed unable to walk.

Hawaiian Darrren Choi suffered the spinal cord injury after falling from rocks onto a shallow reef when sightseeing with his friends.

The 16-year-old from Pearl City had been competing in Samoa, taking three medals from three events just days before the accident.

After first flying to New Zealand for treatment, the swimmer is now back in Honolulu where he is receiving treatment and physical therapy.

He is now forced to wear a halo - a circular device placed around the head - to support his damaged spine.

"With the halo on he was alright he could go sit up so that was good news. He made it through the flight, he said that was the best flight of his life," his sister Chanelle Choi told Hawaii News Now.

Halos were first developed in the 1950s as a method of stabilising the spine without the need to confine patients to their beds.

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Posted by Timothy Walters

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