‘Freak accident’ breaks neck of high school wrestler during state championship

JEFFERSON, Ga. - A Jefferson High School student broke his neck on Thursday.

It happened during the State high school wrestling championship tournament in Macon. 

High school wrestler breaks neck in ‘freak accident’

The backstory:

Assistant wrestling coach at Jefferson High School, Matthew Seaman, says that in the final seconds of Dominic Haines’ quarterfinal match in Macon, Thursday, tragedy struck. "It's a one in a million accident," Seaman said. 

Seaman says Haines’ opponent performed a completely legal and above-board takedown move. "We call it a ‘feet to back’ move," Seaman said. But it resulted in a "freak accident," Seaman says, that broke Haines’ neck. "It's a heartbreaking situation all in all for both sides, obviously for us, but definitely for this opponent who did absolutely nothing wrong," Seaman said. 

He said Haines had been working toward this moment for years. "This has been years in the works for him. Dom's come up through the youth program at Jefferson, the middle school program, and the high school program; this is a true family. This was his year, everything was coming together," Seaman said.

Dominic Haines' recovery

What they're saying:

Haines underwent two surgeries in just 24 hours at a Macon hospital following the injury. In a Facebook post update, Haines's father, Zach Haines, says the surgeries went "according to plan." He went on to say that while he has been able to breathe on his own, "the only issue that has come about is he’s having trouble with his body communicating with the diaphragm. Apparently that’s common with C2-C5 injuries." But he went on to share, "he is able to shrug his shoulders and can now feel a little bit below his chest. So, even in the first 24 hours, there’s positive progress." 

Originally, it was reported that Haines couldn’t feel anything below his shoulders. "It's a giant relief in a lot of ways. We know there's a long road ahead, but you take those wins as you can get them," Seaman said. The volunteer assistant coach believes the same training that’s helped Haines win on the mat is going to help him win in recovery. "It’s about scoring one point, then the next point. And that's the journey he's on right now. He's a born wrestler. He's been there. And this is nothing but a wrestling match for his future," Seaman said.

Winning it for ‘Dom’

What they're saying:

Each wrestler competes individually, but their points are cumulative toward the school winning the state title. Seaman says Dom’s teammates still competing in Macon are fired up like never before to bring home the title Dom worked so hard for. "He's not here, but he is with us. We know that…we're hurting. We love him. We're going to go get this state title. It's happening," Seaman said.

Jefferson High School wrestler to head to Shephard Center

What's next:

Dom’s father posted that if he continues to show good progress he could be moved to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehab in the next week. 

What you can do:

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with medical expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-dominics-wrestling-injury