Content creator Brock Kelly, 24, has shared the devastating news of a surfing injury that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. The Mississippi native was surfing in Hawai'i last Friday when he sustained what he describes as a rare spinal injury.
Kelly revealed he is suffering from surfer's myelopathy, a non-traumatic spinal cord injury caused by hyperextension of the back. This condition interrupts blood flow to the lower spinal cord. According to the Hawai'i State Department of Health, outcomes for surfer's myelopathy can range from complete recovery within days to permanent paralysis.
"Recovery is uncertain. I may never walk again. But yet again, there's a chance I make a full recovery," Kelly wrote in a social media post from his hospital bed. He added, "I know the Lord is faithful through it all. Thank you for all of the kind messages! I feel extremely cared for and loved."
Kelly, who has a significant following on Instagram for his fitness and lifestyle content, also owns the Over Everything Athletics Club, a run club and fitness brand based in Mississippi. His mother, Paige Kelly, provided updates on his condition, noting that he was in intensive care and unable to feel anything from the waist down following the injury. She also shared that Kelly's wife, Mary Grace, and his mother were traveling to be with him.
Paige later shared that Kelly had been diagnosed by neurosurgeons and was working on his path forward. She described his spirits as high, with him remaining positive and optimistic. "He's already setting goals for himself. He's sitting here reading his Bible, concentrating on trying to move his toes, and, in the middle of everything he's facing, he asked Mary Grace and me, 'What are five things you're thankful for today?'" Paige Kelly wrote. She concluded her update by asking for continued prayers for a "healing miracle."