Ogden, Utah — A Weber County teenager is recovering from surgery in the ICU after breaking his neck in a skiing accident.
Aza Mathew Topik of West Haven, an 18-year-old, fractured his C-5 vertebrae when he fell in the Snowbasin on Sunday.
“He hit a little bump, grabbed the front end of his board, flipped forward, buried his face in the snow, and rolled over like a scorpion, so his back legs were a little bit up and his body was in a C shape, ’ explains Topik’s mom, Lori Buck.
On Sunday, Lori received a call and learned of the accident.
“I could hear the panic, I could hear us crying,” she said. “He said, ‘Mom, come to the basin. Come to the basin. I can’t move. I fell. I can’t move. I can’t feel my legs. Come here.'”
Lori and her husband ran to the ski resort and arrived just in time to take her by ambulance to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden.
“At that moment, my heart sank. My heart sank,” Lowry said. “But I can’t let it show because I need to be strong for him.”
Doctors performed surgery to fuse Topic’s cervical spine on Monday, the family said.
“Just seeing him lying there helpless breaks my heart, my mum and everyone,” said Azar’s stepfather, David Barker.
Aza Topik’s family and friends were with him in the hospital.
Azar returned to a lot of activity in his upper body on Tuesday.
“He still doesn’t feel anything from the waist down,” Lowry said.
Doctors gave Azar a 5 percent chance of walking again, the family said.
“Some pretty extensive spinal cord injuries,” she explained.
But the family hopes he will get through it, saying Topic is as determined as they came.
“He’s my kid. He’s a fighter,” Lowry said.
“I think he can beat it,” said Aza’s sister, Gabby Topik. “With his attitude and his stubbornness, he’ll walk again.”
“He just has a really big heart and we knew he was going to play this,” David Barker said.
The family said Azar did not have health insurance. They created a GoFundMe* to help with medical bills.
According to GoFundMe, “he needed years of rehabilitation and physical therapy before he could walk again”.
*KSL TV does not guarantee that funds deposited into the account will be used for the benefit of the person named as the beneficiary. If you are considering depositing funds into this account, you should consult your own advisors, otherwise do so at your own risk.
