Carefree pool dive at party leaves woman paralyzed from neck down

A New York woman's life turned upside down after a pool party dive left her paralyzed.

On June 29, 2019, Dana Barrett's carefree plunge at her boyfriend's place ended in tragedy. The accident robbed her of movement below the neck and the ability to breathe on her own.

"One second I'm diving, then I hear this awful crack, and everything goes dark," Barrett recalled. "As I hit my head, I actually heard my neck crack."

Barrett, a former restaurant manager, said she misjudged the pool's depth. She bobbed up, frozen but aware, hearing the chatter of oblivious partygoers around her. Her friends laughed it off as a prank until she blacked out from not breathing.

Rushed by helicopter to Stony Brook, Barrett spent 48 hours in an induced coma. Coming to, she got the gut-wrenching news: a broken C2 vertebra had left her quadriplegic.

"I thought I was having a nightmare at first, I felt like I was being held down really hard,” described Barrett. “I would try and lift my head and I felt like it was being pulled back down.”

Once a sports junkie who'd done it all from gymnastics to lacrosse, Barrett's world flipped in an instant.

For over 12 months, hospitals and rehab centers became her new normal. COVID threw another wrench in the works, keeping loved ones at arm's length during her recovery.

By late 2020, she'd settled into a tricked-out cottage at a special needs community. These days, she breathes with high-tech help and runs her place by voice.

"Most folks have no clue how much freedom you lose as a quad," Barrett pointed out. "My life's tied to a battery now - if it dies, I can't even yell for help."

But Barrett's not one to throw in the towel, keeping her chin up despite it all. Her parting shot: "Think twice before you dive - it only takes one mistake to change everything."