ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — One family is trying to get a Georgia freshman back to Atlanta after a skiing accident in Colorado.

18-year-old Ayden Slipsager was in a skiing accident on Dec. 17 and has remained in a Denver hospital since the accident. He suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken collarbone and a number of other injuries.

“It was scary. He wasn’t awake, tubes and braces and intubated and I wasn’t even sure he was in there... the worst day of my life,” said his mother, Tami. “A mother should never get the call that I got.”

Tami says Ayden had been skiing with her husband and a friend for two days when the accident happened. She’d even sent him a text that morning to be careful.

“I said, ‘Ayden, I really want you to take some lessons before you go back out.’ I literally said in the text message, ‘I don’t want you to kill yourself,’” said Tami.

Tami says it was icy on the slopes that day and Ayden disappeared for 40 minutes until a stranger spotted him unconscious and called for help.

“We don’t know what he hit because all the damage that happened to him probably came from trees but they said they didn’t find him anywhere near trees, so we don’t know if it was ice or a stump or rock we don’t know,” she said.

Tami got the news Tuesday that Ayden was accepted into the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation.

She said Ayden is a stellar athlete and a star student with a 3.9 GPA after his first semester at Georgia, so he is someone who works hard in every area of his life.

“He’s got unbelievable goals and aspirations in life,” Tami said.

Tami says their main goal now is to get him home and back on track.

“He’s got a lot of recovery and I hope we can get him back to that place of independence and back to that life he always dreamed of,” said Tami.

Tami says the medical flight to get Ayden to the Shepherd Center could cost more than $100,000. If you’d like to help support Ayden’s family, click here.

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