Ocean View basketball player fractures neck

Ocean View High School sophomore Erik Arrincon fractured his neck in a basketball tournament in San Diego Sunday.

The 15-year-old underwent one surgery Sunday and another Wednesday and doctors now think he will make a full recovery, said Susan Munro, Erik’s mother.

“Erik is a miracle,” Munro said. “The doctor’s said 99 % of people [with the same injury] would not walk again.”

Immediately after the accident, Erik was taken to the UC San Diego Medical Center where he has been in Intensive Care. He is expected to be moved out of Intensive Care today and moved to a rehabilitation center in Orange County in a few days, Munro said.

“They can’t believe how far he has come,” she said.

The accident happened about 10 minutes into the game. Erik was playing defense for the club team Huntington Beach Rebelswhen he jumped three or four feet into the air to block an opponent’s shot, said Fred Ascari, who is involved with the Rebels. The other player was faking and jumped up as Erik was coming down. Mid-air, Erik’s feet got caught on the other player and he fell and hit his head, Munro said.

When he first fell, he couldn’t move at all, but by the time he got to the hospital he had some feeling back, Munro said.

“We just did not know what the prognosis was,” she said.

Despite the seriousness of the accident, Munro said Erik handled it like someone beyond his years and even had a sense of humor. After his first surgery, the first thing Erik said to his mother was “Mom, we should have won that game.”

“He never let any of this get him down,” she said.