WESTFIELD — A Westfield family is speaking out about the dangers of trampolines after their son had a life-changing accident.
"It's turned our family dynamic upside down," said April Phillips.
16-year-old Corban Phillips is recovering in hospital after a trampoline accident.
His parents, April and Matthew, said Corban has no movement from the waist down.
"He was doing a double front flip, he made the first rotation and halfway through, when he was head down, he landed, but he's done this many times," she said.
It happened at a friend's house on Saturday, August 24.
"He was in the middle of the trampoline. He was face down, screaming that he couldn't move, couldn't feel anything from the neck down," said Matthew Phillips.
His family said practicing flips was an oasis for Corban.
Now, they're #CorbanStrong, holding onto hope that one day, he will walk again.
"We've begged, just tell me when my kid is going to walk again, like I need a date and time when he's going to get out of this bed and walk. There has not been one person to answer that. The standard answer is time," said April Phillips.
April said while Corban heals, she will stay by his side, even though it means taking time off from work.
"He thanks his nurses, he thanks the doctors. The gratitude is coming out of him all the time," said April Phillips. "He's asking me when he'll be able to use his hands again, and then the very next hour, he's telling somebody thank you."
Corban was a part of the Westfield Shamrocks Rugby Club.
As medical bills stack up, the Westfield community, the Phillips family, teammates, and friends are pitching in to help raise money for medical expenses.
"The road is long and uncharted. It's not a box of band-aids. It's not some gauze for three months. This is life-changing, life-altering, and the expenses are astronomical," said April Phillips.
While the family is so grateful, they want to tell others about their son's incident and warn others about the dangers.
"Just know your limitations, don't try to go outside your limits because it can change in a split second," said Matthew Phillips.
