A 17-year-old is fighting for his life after suffering a freak accident on his last day of training with the San Diego Junior Lifeguard program.

“We got a phone call saying literally every parent’s nightmare, saying that we need to perform life-saving measures on our son,” his mother, Courtney Renard, said.

It’s been almost one month since Courtney’s son Finn had a life-changing accident while doing a routine training relay at Mission Bay. She said it is a tradition they do on their last day of training. She knows because her son had done the training program two years before.

However, this time something unexpected happened.

“He ran into the bay, and he dove in because his team was behind and he was trying to catch up and so he was going real fast and hard and he hit his head on the sand below and became unconscious,” Courtney Renard said.

His mother said a team of lifeguards rushed in to pull him out and took him to the hospital.

Finn underwent emergency spinal surgery to stabilize his cervical spine.

“They replaced his C-5 and then fused the 4 through 6 together,” Renard said.

His mother said days after his surgery, he appeared to be on the road to recovery.

“He was great for a couple days after that. He was sitting up, talking. Lifeguards were coming and visiting him,” Renard said.

She thought soon they would be able to start rehab, but six days after the surgery Finn had to be intubated and eventually placed on life-support because he had been having trouble breathing on his own.

“At the beginning I thought I just want him to be able to walk again because right after surgery he was able to move his arms a little bit, but he wasn’t able to move his hands, his legs, or his feet, so I thought that was going to be our uphill battle but truly right now, I want him to breathe on his own. I want him to live and breathe,” Renard said.

Finn’s mother said it’s been tough being patient with the journey.

“Just the feeling of helplessness, when something happens to your kid, you want to take it on,” Renard said.

A spokesperson for the San Diego Lifeguard shared the following statement:

“Our San Diego Junior Lifeguard interns and staff are part of our Fire-Rescue family. Finn’s injury has deeply affected our team, and we have remained in close contact with his parents. Our hearts are with Finn and his loved ones, and we will continue to offer our support throughout his recovery.”

Renard said they’re hoping for a miracle and they’re leaning on their faith to carry them through.

“Honestly prayer, we just need a lot of prayer,” Renard said.