ARNOLD, Mo. — An 18-year-old in Jefferson County lays in a hospital bed, paralyzed from the waist down on Tuesday.
Jordan Ayers could only move his shoulders and elbows and can only mouth words after he was hurt on the job.
Ayers' mom Tabitha Hardy told 5 On Your Side he was working on June 8 when his life took a turn, a day after his high school graduation.
Ayers had spent three weeks working for an event rental company in Fenton, Missouri, and was on a delivery in Pacific, Missouri.
He was taking a table down from a stack of folding tables and the stack fell on him and hit his head which threw him back into straps where he hit his neck.
That shoved his C5 disc in and up into his spinal cord, according to his mother.
Ayers told his mom he instantly could not move.
Hardy said she had not heard anything from the event company and her other son who worked there, quit the day of the incident.
"They have said nothing. They've not contacted me and said sorry. They've not gave me his last check. Nothing nothing at all," she added.
When we stopped by the events company this afternoon, a staff member at the business told us they could not talk for legal reasons.
Meanwhile, the single mom of five has to think about the hard days ahead.
"Wheelchair-accessible house, wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Wheelchair accessible everything. We have none of that," she said.
All the while she is doing her best to keep her son in good spirits.
"He's still going to be a good man, but he was going to be an accomplished man," Hardy said.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to support Ayers once he returns home.