GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Parker Byrd’s family received some encouraging news after the East Carolina University commit underwent his 13th surgery Tuesday.
Byrd suffered extensive leg damage in a Bath Creek boating accident in July. He has since undergone numerous operations, including a below-the-knee amputation on his right leg. He is expected to have an above-the-knee amputation on the same side at some point. The purpose of Tuesday’s surgery was to clean out wounds and change Byrd’s wound vac.
“Everything went well,” Parker’s mother, Mitzi Byrd, wrote in an update following Tuesday’s surgery. “Parker is back in his room, still sleeping off the anesthesia. Dr. Zeri was very happy with the way the skin and tissue looked. There is still one spot over the knee that still needs healing but he said he is seeing improvements with the hyperbaric treatments. He wants to put off the reconstruction amputation a little while longer, to allow the hyperbaric therapy to heal as much as possible. He wants to get Parker out of the hospital and we agree with him!”
Prior to the accident, Byrd was preparing to start his freshman year as a member of the ECU baseball team. Byrd grew up in Laurinburg and attended Scotland County High School. He also played travel baseball with the South Charlotte Panthers. Byrd’s talent caught ECU’s attention early, and he verbally committed to the Pirates before playing a single high school game.
“(Dr. Zeri) is looking at doing another surgery Thursday morning, then discharging him home (not really home but to an apartment in Greenville),” Mitzi Byrd wrote. “He will continue to do hyperbaric twice a day and will do outpatient surgeries for wound vac changes twice a week. Once the final surgery is done, he will be able to start rehab. All his stitches and staples were removed today and have healed nicely. He’s even cautiously optimistic that he may not need a skin graft on his right upper leg. He said the skin is loosening around that area and it just may come together on it’s on. We are very thankful for some good news and are hopefully seeing some light at the end of this long tunnel.”
