Beaufort High basketball player suffers spinal cord injury after fall from Fripp Island roof

A Beaufort County teenager suffered severe injuries Sunday when he fell from a roof on Fripp Island, including suffering spinal cord damage that has left him unable to move his legs.

Anderson Jones, 17, an incoming senior and varsity basketball player at Beaufort High School, was hanging out with friends after a day at the beach when the accident occurred.

“It was touch and go if he would survive the first day after surgery,” a spokesperson for the family said online. “A brain bleed, damaged lung, skull fractures, and on a ventilator, they questioned if he could respond to neuro commands. Within three days, he is awake and responsive.”

A GoFundMe page has been created to help the family. More than $22,500 has been raised so far toward a goal of $50,000. He is described on the page as being “spunky and spirited.”

Anderson had been invited by a friend to spend the day at the beach Sunday. When the sun began to set, Anderson and two others picked up two more friends in a golf cart and stopped at a construction site on Tarpon Boulevard. The five teens headed to the roof’s observation deck, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report. When they were climbing down the stairs to leave, they heard Anderson sliding off the roof.

The four other teens rushed to the ground floor where Anderson lay in “great pain,” according to the report. They rushed Anderson to the golf cart and took him to the home of the friend that had invited them out and a parent called 911 around 12:35 a.m.

The teens told police in the report they did not see Anderson fall. They told police they had brought some beer with them to the beach that a stranger bought for them earlier at a Circle K convenience store on Sea Island Parkway. While the driver of the golf cart said he did not drink, the teenagers admitted to drinking some of the beers while on the roof.

Anderson was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston with severe head and spine injuries, police said in the report. After a three-hour back surgery, a doctor concluded that Anderson was “unable to use his legs,” a spokesperson for the family said on the GoFundMe page.

“This is the first miracle, and we are praying for more. His deep blue eyes look at the doctors explaining what is going on, but his sun kissed body just wants to jump out of that hospital bed to return to his life as he knew it last Sunday. This journey to recovery is going to be a long one with immediate [occupational therapy] at MUSC, and then moving to a rehab facility where he and his mother will stay until he is able live at home,” the family spokesperson said.

“Once he returns, their house will need to be handicap accessible. The road is long and hard for him, his parents, and his younger sister. Anderson Jones is a warrior, fierce, relentless, powerful and quick — all those traits he used on the field are going to help him defeat the odds and walk again.”

On one Facebook page announcing Anderson’s accident, there were more than 200 comments from well-wishers showing their support for the family. One user wrote that news of the accident “hits home” and urged the family to “trust the process” of recovery ahead.

Another person wrote, “My heart hurts for you all,” but that “Anderson has the best family supporting him.”