Marblehead Student in French Hospital Following Diving Accident

Marblehead High School senior Ben Farrar is being treated in a Nice, France hospital after sustaining a spinal cord injury while vacationing with friends in Cannes.

According to posts on several Facebook pages, Farrar and his friends were playing games on a beach in Cannes, France on Sunday, April 19 when Farrar dove into the water to cool off. The water, however, was shallow and Farrar hit his head on the sand, crushing a vertebra, damaging his spinal cord and rendering him paralyzed.

Paramedics took Farrar to Nice, where “the doctors were quite shocked on the extent of the injury as it’s similar to a cliff diving related injury and not just a dive into the water,” the post on his mother, Yunita Pitard Farrar’s Facebook page reads.

Doctors in Nice stabilized Farrar, but cannot do much until the inflammation has decreased, the post continues. Farrar has been able to move his arms and his heartbeat has remained steady. His parents, Yunita and Michael Farrar, as well as his sister have traveled to France to be with him.

“Positive energies and prayers are what Ben needs most right now,” the administrator for the Ben Farrar’s Status Facebook page told Patch in an email.

According to a post on that page, a neuro-surgical spine team at Massachusetts General Hospital is awaiting Farrar’s transfer to Boston.

“The plan is to bring Ben home and have him at MGH,” a Facebook post reads.“The Boston-based and France- based teams along with Global Rescue paramedics team will come to an agreement when they think Ben is safe to travel back to Boston.”

Friends, neighbors, teachers and others have left messages on the Ben Farrar’s Status Facebook page, which had more than 850 followers as of this publication.

“Keep the faith, all of you. You have an entire town rooting for you! sending prayers across the miles for continued progress, xoxo,” writes Jennifer Cofer Flanagan.