The brutal moment a 29-year-old cheerleader broke her neck, shattering a bone in her spine, has been captured on camera.
Corey Martens, from Kentucky, USA, was performing a backflip when he suddenly “blacked out”, causing his head to “crunch” against the ground, instead of landing in his partner’s hands.
The terrifying experience occurred during the Morehead State University football game, when Ms. Martens stepped in at the last minute to perform at the halftime show.
The clip that captured the event shows her teammate perfectly executing the “backflip” seconds before Martens makes her own attempt.
Dazzling images show this is going terribly wrong.
Martens attributed the loss of consciousness at the “worst possible time” to not eating enough food and low iron levels.
The backflip is usually performed by the cheerleader by pushing her body back onto her hands and then jumping back onto her feet, landing on her partner’s hands.
Instead of using his hands to get up from the ground, Corey hit his head. She says she was “very lucky” not to have been paralyzed after the terrifying fall broke one of her vertebrae.
‘Actually, I wasn’t originally in it (the performance).
“But a lot of people were missing, either due to injuries or because they were out of town, so I ended up taking the plunge.
“When I went to do the backflip, I ended up passing out, which we attributed to not eating enough as I had low iron levels.
‘The fainting only lasted a second, but it happened at the worst moment.
“My feet didn’t leave the ground and I didn’t actually jump, I just landed directly on my head.”
A 911 call was made and Ms Martens, who has been a cheerleader since she was 12, was rushed to St Claire’s Hospital, Morehead, Kentucky, by ambulance.
When she arrived at the hospital, doctors were “unsure” about the severity of the fracture in her neck and rushed her in for a CT scan and x-rays.
“After the x-rays they discovered that I had a non-displaced C5 (vertebra) fracture,” he says.
Corey Martens fainted at the “worst time,” causing his head to fall and breaking the bone at the top of his spine.
Ms Martens came terrifyingly close to paralysis as a result of the injury. Fortunately he recovered with the help of a neck brace.
“It was definitely worrying. They told me that because it wasn’t displaced, which basically meant it wasn’t putting pressure on any of my nerves, and so I wasn’t suffering any neurological effects.’
Mrs Martens was lucky to have narrowly escaped paralysis and, after just six hours in hospital, was allowed to return home that same night.
The entertainer, who works as a barista at Starbucks, said: ‘I feel very lucky because fractures between C4 and C6 (vertebrae) very commonly cause paralysis and I was lucky that the fracture was away from the nerves in that area.
“But they (the doctors) wanted to make sure I didn’t move it because I had also pulled all the tendons and muscles around my neck and it hurt a lot.”
‘I was told not to do any of my normal activities.
‘I could walk but I had to leave the neck brace on 24/7 for two and a half weeks. They allowed me to take it off for short periods of time (when showering or changing), but I still wore it when I slept and everywhere else I went.
“At first it was scary, but after the first week they (doctors) weren’t worried about any neurological effects because if it hadn’t appeared by then, it shouldn’t appear anymore.” I felt a lot better after that.’
The horrific accident was caught on camera by his assistant coach. She admits it was “painful” to see the images for the first time, but was brave enough to do it just a day later.
The clip of Martens’ accident has attracted more than 700,000 views on TikTok.
‘I was curious about what had happened. I didn’t know what (the accident) was like or where it went wrong. I knew I had fainted and I felt that happen, but I didn’t know why I landed on my head.
‘Last I knew he was going to do the backflip. I thought I would at least get it back, but I didn’t.
‘It was painful to see it again, but I’m the kind of person who jokes. Whatever happens, I take situations lightly. So after that I laughed a little.”
The entertainer is determined not to let the accident stop her in her tracks.
Barely a month after the fall, she has already returned to playing sports, despite being ‘afraid’ to try the move that injured her again.
‘This week was my first week back. ‘I’m still not allowed to do cartwheels, do pyramids, baskets or dismounts, but I am allowed to start doing acrobatics and see how I feel,’ he said.
“Since then, this week I did a backflip, which I was doing when I fell, and I was able to do it quite easily, which is good because that means I don’t have a mental block.
‘I’ve had a medical professional with me in case anything happens. I have been communicating with them about every other day.
After sharing the video of the accident on TikTok, the clip went viral, racking up more than 737,000 likes, comments and views.
One user commented: ‘I’m so sorry! My daughter fell from her full extension and landed on her head. He has a cervical strain and a major concussion, but he was VERY LUCKY. Poor.’
Another wrote: “If this happened in front of so many people it would make me change schools.”
A third said: ‘The look on the boys’ faces. I hope you’re well!’ A fourth added: “Every star is allowed to fall once. Get well soon.”