An 18-year-old volunteer firefighter was badly injured in a crash on Monday morning while responding to an emergency in Johnston County. Thornton was responding to a medical call in his role with the Blackman’s Crossroads Fire Department.
Firefighter Cecil Dale Thornton, a senior at South Johnston High School, was responding to a medical call with the Blackman’s Crossroads Fire Department near Four Oaks when his truck ran off the road and overturned, according to the JoCo Report.
He was ejected from his truck. He sustained several severe injuries, the worse one was his back being broken and crushing of his spinal cord at the T4 – T11 vertebrae. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Family members and the N.C. State Highway Patrol report Thornton was paralyzed from the waist down. He was taken to WakeMed and had surgery on Tuesday.
Late Tuesday, Thornton’s family reported the surgery went well but the family also report he only has a 5% chance of walking again. The Highway Patrol reports states he was not wearing a seat belt.
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