A fun day out on the water surfing behind a boat at Pine Knoll Shores last August quickly turned tragic for 13-year-old Wiley Sloan.
Wiley says, “I could just hear the propeller spinning and getting closer and closer.”
As the boat circled around to pick him up, he was struck by the propeller. “I knew I got hit but I didn’t know it was going to be this bad, said Wiley.
Wiley’s dad Hamilton was about to head to the coast from their Raleigh home when his wife Hannah called. “She just said there’s been a boating accident. I don’t know what’s going on. Just go to Greenville. I’ll meet you in Greenville.”
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As Hamilton frantically rushed to Maynard Children’s Hospital, his wife called back with more details, “And said Wiley’s lost an arm, um, and he’s in a helicopter on his way to Greenville right now.”
Wiley remembers, “You don’t want to look cause It kinda makes the pain worse but it’s pretty hard not to look.”
Now, this young man, who loves the water and competing in every sport you can imagine, was in his toughest battle yet. For his life.
Hamilton says, “The doctors, as they should be, were very straightforward about the fact that he was a very sick young man and had significant traumatic injuries.”
Not only did Wiley lose his left arm, he had severe injuries to his abdomen and leg, and would have to endure 10 surgeries.
Back home, his classmates lifted him in prayer, while at the hospital, ECU baseball player Parker Byrd, who lost a leg in a boating accident a year earlier, lifted his spirits, all helping Wiley stay brave and calm through it all.
“Maybe just motivation to get better and better and I just kept my mind off of what happened,” said Wiley.
After 33 days in the hospital, he was well enough to go home.
Hamilton says, “And that’s a testament to Wiley’s toughness and healing and a testament to the staff at the hospital.”
Today, not even a year since the accident, he’s back doing some of what he loves as he continues to heal in the pool and on the basketball court.
Being from Raleigh, Hamilton says he wasn’t familiar with Maynard Children’s Hospital and initially wasn’t sure what to think when Wiley was flown there, but says as time moved on and they learned more about the hospital, the doctors, and the level of care they were receiving, he says it became very obvious they were in the right place.
Hamilton says, “Eastern North Carolina is very fortunate to have the Maynard Children’s Hospital. It is a first-class facility.”
One that he says deserves your support and one that he thanks for saving his son’s life. “I’m a witness to a miracle at ECU Health and Wiley is absolutely fortunate to be a miracle child,” said Hamilton.
Wiley couldn’t be more grateful. “I see myself as a miracle cause everything was so perfect and good.”
Be sure to tune in this weekend for the CMN Telethon and make a pledge to help ensure kids like Wiley are able to get the critical treatment they need right here in Eastern Carolina.
