Post Falls’ 4-year-old Cooper Wilhelm is under intensive care after falling from his two -story home.
His family already has raised over $10,000 on GoFundMe to pay for the many brain surgeries he will undergo.
“I really, really appreciate the people who are praying for him and just sending out positive thoughts because the community coming together is really what I feel like is keeping everything going right now,” said Cooper’s aunt, Makayla Colbert, who set up the GoFundMe.
The family had been expecting a playdate last Friday for Cooper and his older sister Lainey. Excited to see their friends, the two kids ran up and down from their parents to the upstairs window – hoping to catch a glimpse of a car in a driveway.
But then 6-year-old Lainey came back down and told her parents Cooper had been hurt really bad.
The preschooler had fallen head first two stories onto the pavement of the family driveway.
“He smacked his face right on the concrete. He fell straight on his head,” Colbert said.
The boy was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and underwent brain surgery. Because of the swelling a piece of his skull was not reattached. Once it can be placed back in his head, Cooper will have facial reconstruction surgery.
Cooper and his family will likely be at Harborview for the next month before the child can be moved to another facility for many more months of therapy.
Colbert called her nephew the “spunkiest dude in the world.”
“He is so into parkour and dressing crazy and he’s just crazy boy. And that’s why I know he’s just going to be fine because he is literally so strong,” she said.
Cooper’s GoFundMe can be contributed to at gofundme.com/f/support-coopers-brave-recovery-journey.