Havasu man injured during Spring Break 2010 warns: `Always be careful'

March 2011 News

Today's News-Herald recently caught up with a 31-year-old man who broke his neck in Bridgewater Channel March 15, 2010, while chartering a group of Spring Breakers onto the often carefree party scene on Lake Havasu's shores.

According to earlier reports, Jeremy Brown, of Lake Havasu City, is alleged to have attempted to dive from a double-decker pontoon boat near Channel marker No. 11 on the east shore and struck his head on the bottom rail of the boat. He slumped into the water and lost consciousness.
In retrospect, that's not the way it went down.

Jeremy recently said he was in fact working that day. He was acting as a tour guide for visiting Spring Break kids.

Moments before his tragedy, he had walked out onto a second-story diving board that extended off the rear of the boat in order to warn his group not to jump from that height - Because the water was too shallow.

"I remember everything that happened that day, except the impact," Jeremy said. "I specifically remember my left foot slipping. My first reaction was to turn and dive. I remember coming up from under the water (after impact) and then going back down. I could see the surface of the water above me just a few feet and knew I needed help. I was thinking `no, no, I can't die' and then I passed out."

Brown's next memories were many days later after he woke up at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas.

"I never had any bumps, scratches or bruises," Jeremy said. "There were no markings on my body at all." But, he had fractured his C-5 vertebrae in his neck. Since, a small flexible cage-type device has been inserted in its place.

According to earlier reports, bystanders pulled Jeremy from the water after his accident and began cardio pulmonary resuscitation and rescue breathing to revive him. Jeremy's breathing was stabilized and he was transported to Havasu Regional Medical Center. He was soon air-evacuated by medical helicopter to Las Vegas to be treated for a spinal cord injury.

Nearly two weeks later, Jeremy underwent successful neck surgery in Las Vegas.

In the early stages of recovery, Jeremy learned he had coded, or died, three times on the beach just after the accident, once at HRMC before his air-evacuation, and again during surgery days later.

Read more at http://www.havasunews.com/articles/2011/03/13/news/doc4d7c49fdbfe8e932879976.txt

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Havasu man injured during Spring Break 2010 warns: `Always be careful'

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