Lincoln Park Father paralyzed after diving accident

29-year-old Jason Hampton is a hometown hero, a proud Marine who served two tours in Iraq and a corrections officer at a prison in Milan, which recently housed Kwame Kilpatrick.

Now Hampton is in a hospital bed paralyzed from the waist down after a freak accident on June 26. His wife says he hit his head diving during a family trip to Harsens Island and broke several vertebra.

“In a split second, your life can change,” said Chuck Shemwell. “Knowing the family, and I’ve got young kids myself, I just want to see if there is anything we can do.”

He is a family friend who has been following the tragic story on Facebook. After two major surgeries, Hampton is expected to recover, but it’s not clear if he’ll ever be able to walk again.

He and his wife have two young children and a baby on the way.

People were gathering Friday evening at Quandt Park in Lincoln Park for a softball benefit to help raise money for the Hamptons that was scheduled to run until 11:00 p.m.

“There’s going to be special vehicle needs, handicap equipment and such. Obviously, the every day bills that come into play,” Shemwell said. “I have a wife and young children, too. I have four of my own and I couldn’t imagine taking them out one day and something like this happening to me where I couldn’t support my kids.”

Shemwell is the manager at Detroit 2 Auto Finance Center in Redford. He is helping collect donations for this young man who risked his life fighting for our freedom and whose life will never be the same.

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