A champion teen swimmer has been left paralysed in a horrifying freak accident that crushed his spine when he dived into a pool.
Olympic hopeful Matias Bottoni, 17, had been warming up for the Argentine Youth Championships when he leapt head-first into the pool on 10th May.
But another swimmer was already in the lane underwater and Matias landed head-first on top of him.
Matias suffered a catastrophic compression of his cervical vertebrae in his neck and was instantly unable to move his arms or legs.
Surgeons at the Italian Hospital in Buenos Aires tried to repair the damage in a painstaking four-hour operation on 12th May.
Matias's father Luciano told local media on 13th May: "When we came in, he opened his eyes and responded to our voices.
"Today they're going to start waking him up and he'll be able to start talking."
He added: "This was the first operation. The road ahead is very long, and we're hopeful he'll be able to move his arms, but the doctor didn't give us any hope for his lower limbs.
"The first night, Mati's report was critical, and he almost died twice. The neurosurgeon said she hadn't seen such a significant injury in a long time."
A GoFundMe appeal to help pay medical bills has raised ARS 60 million (GBP 40,000).
Dad Luciano said: "We want to thank everyone who joined. It's amazing how far we've spread the word.
"It's not that Mati doesn’t need more help, but we want to slow things down because I don't want people to think we're just raising money and taking advantage.
"Everything is for Matias. It's not just the medical aspect, it's adaptation, mobility, and everything else that he'll need in the long term."
But the family has blamed their son's sports insurance company Ospac for, they say, delaying vital surgery.
The firm can only be contacted on mornings from Monday to Friday which meant, says Luciano, his son had to go first into a small clinic that could not perform the op he needed.
Luciano said: "Vital hours were lost. If the operation had been done within 24 hours, things could have been different."