PEOPLE
Man, 24, Was ‘Instantly Paralyzed’ While ‘Belly Flopping’ into a Pool on Last Day of Vacation with His Girlfriend
By Erin Clack Published on September 13, 2026 06:30AM EDT
William Ponter was enjoying a getaway in Turkey with his girlfriend, Rebecca Francey, when he suffered a life-changing accident.
The couple were spending some time at the pool on the last day of their trip on Sept. 3 when Ponter belly flopped into the water and “didn’t come back up,” according to Kennedy News and Media. Francey, who was jumping into the pool alongside him, recalled that Ponter, a 24-year-old electrician from Lancashire, England, “just went to the bottom” and then “floated to the surface face down.”
“I jumped in, and I pulled him out, and he said he couldn’t move,” Francey, 27, said, describing Ponter as being “instantly paralyzed.”
She continued, “I think I must have been shouting for help, but people were there around him and an ambulance was called.”
At the hospital, doctors determined that Ponter had broken his neck. He underwent a 13-hour surgery during which his C4 vertebra was removed due to concerns that he would have a stroke because he was struggling to breathe.
The doctors’ prognosis after the surgery was that Ponter would be paralyzed from the neck down, and Francey recalled the difficult task of calling her boyfriend’s parents to deliver the heartbreaking news.
Francey said they don’t know “what the future is going to look like” for Ponter, who is currently recovering in the ICU in Turkey, with his girlfriend and his parents by his side.
“This accident was a split second of tragedy that has now reshaped the entire future of a young man who is only 24 years old,” a family member wrote in a GoFundMe set up to help cover Ponter’s mounting medical bills. “It is life-changing, heartbreaking.”
“Will has a long road to recovery,” they added, “and the end goal of ‘recovered’ is still uncertain of what that looks like.”
Francey is coordinating with hospitals and insurance companies to have Ponter flown home to the U.K. to receive further care. She said the cost to transport him home will be at least £40,000 (about $54,000), and his ICU stay costs £2,000 ($2,700) per day.
“We expect there will be further costs to help make the home accessible, as well as resources and other accessibility equipment,” the family added in the GoFundMe.
“We just all want him home,” Francey said, noting that the tragedy “couldn’t have happened to a better person.”
“It’s not fair. A split second just changed everything,” she continued, describing Ponter’s accident as a bad dream she thought she was going to wake up from.
Ponter’s family said in the GoFundMe that they are focusing on being positive and “praying for a recovery that may seem miraculous.”
“But as the saying goes, ‘Where there’s a Will, there’s a way,’ ” they added.
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