Broken neck doesn’t keep swimmer out of pool

WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg swimmer Nathaniel Crow wanted win a state championship in the in the 200-meter freestyle. And he did. But not the way he thought he would.

Crow had just turned 17 in the summer of 2022 when his life changed. “He dove into our farm pond, broke his neck and suffered a spinal cord injury,” Nathaniel’s mother, Lisa Crow said.

That could have been the end of his swimming career, but para swimming had become a sanctioned Iowa high school sport the previous year, so Crow is able to continue competing for Williamsburg in para swimming events. He won the 200 freestyle and finished runner-up in the 50 para freestyle at the State meet in 2023.

Nathaniel and teammate James Duncan, who has cerebral palsy, are two of 32 para swimmers in the state. Both will compete for Williamsburg at the state tournament this weekend.

Nathaniel is a man of few words and answered most questions with a shrug during an interview last month at the Williamsburg High School pool. He didn’t panic when the accident happened, and he was optimistic throughout his recovery, his mother said.

Lisa was working from home the day of the accident, July 5, 2022. A former pastor in Marengo, Lisa had just started as pastor in Kalona and Wellman.

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Nathaniel and his brother Nelson were at the farm pond near the house, and Nathaniel made a shallow dive into eight feet of water, something he’d done before. He didn’t hit bottom, but some force broke his neck.

He came up, moving his arms wildly, but he couldn’t move his legs or hands.

Nelson, who was 13 at the time, thought Nathaniel was joking, Lisa said. But when Nathaniel went under and came up for a second time, he yelled for help. “Nelson jumped in and saved him or he would have drowned,” Lisa said.

Nelson ran to the house and told his mother that Nathaniel couldn’t move his legs, which puzzled her because she had no context for the statement. She didn’t even know the boys had been at the pond.

Nathaniel had worked all day at Williamsburg Manufacturing, and the summer afternoon was very hot. Lisa thought her son might be experiencing something heat related.

But when Nelson said he was at the pond, Lisa began running to the water. She found her son lying face up on the beach with his legs in the water.

“He was completely calm,” Lisa said. “Bewildered, but calm.” He had some feeling in his legs, but it was diminished.

Lisa sent Nelson back to the house for her phone and called 911.

People say that in emergencies, time seems to slow down, but on Crow farm, about 15 minutes north of Wellman and 15 minutes south of Oxford, help really does take time to arrive. The ambulance came from Marengo, which took about 30 minutes.

Nathaniel was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. He had fractured his C6 and cracked his C5 vertebrae. Doctors had the boy in surgery within an hour to take pressure off his spinal cord.

During a second surgery, doctors put a rod in Nathaniel’s spine.

Lisa took four months family medical leave while Nathaniel recovered. She spent every night in the hospital him.

Nathaniel was in the pediatric intensive care unit for three weeks before being moved to a room for a few days. He was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids for inpatient physical therapy for 12 weeks.

“When we left the University of Iowa, he had no movement below [chest level],” Lisa said. “He also didn’t have the ability to scratch is own nose.”

“He asked me, probably day two, ‘Do you think I’ll ever walk again?’” Lisa answered him honestly. Yes, she said. She believed he would.

“For some reason, he believed me,” Lisa said. “Whenever he didn’t have his own strength, he went off mine.”

At the end of 12 weeks at physical therapy, Nathaniel walked out of St. Luke’s with the help of a walker.

“He’s a walking miracle,” Lisa said.

A week after leaving St. Luke’s, Nathaniel was in the pool again. It was part of his physical therapy. He started to think he might be able to swim again.

Nathaniel still has diminished use of his hands, and his legs don’t work like they used to, but he walks, he drives, he hunts — and he swims.

Another para swimmer joined the Williamsburg Raiders this year. Duncan was born with cerebral palsy, which affects his mobility, balance and leg strength. But he’s always been physically active, and he’s competed in para sports, winning the national para rowing championships.

Last fall, James entered the Gateway Triathlon. Swimming was the worst leg of his race, he said.

Someone told Williamsburg Swim Coach Jan Severns that James had competed in the triathlon, and she invited him to join the Raiders swim team. “Jan sent me an email, and I gave it about five minutes thought,” said James.

“She’s a great coach,” said James. “My form is better. I’m definitely a better swimmer.”

James competes in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyles. “I’ve dropped probably five seconds off my 50 time, and my 100 time is probably four second faster.”

Because James and Nathaniel swim in the para events, they practice differently than the rest of the team. “We kind of do our own stuff,” said James. “We get along great.”

And because Nathaniel has been swimming longer than James has, James can ask him questions about the sport.

“It’s a good time,” said James. “It’s different, and I kind of like that. Definitely good cardio.”

“I think having the both of them together is just a good experience,” said Severns. “They both have good personalities.”

Nathaniel and James have been good for the Raiders swim team, said Severns. “It brings more to us than we give them.” Nathaniel and James have a joy and a strength, Severns said, “And we all just kind of feed off it.”