Pastor Paul Lemmond speaks during the prayer vigil.
Photos| Brandon Hodge/The Laurinburg Exchange
Byrd’s jersey hangs on the fence at McCoy Field.
Photos| Brandon Hodge/The Laurinburg Exchange
Members of the Byrd family are hugged by vigil participants.
Photos| Brandon Hodge/The Laurinburg Exchange
The stands were filled, resulting in only standing room by the start of the vigil.
Photos| Brandon Hodge/The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG – The Scotland High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted a prayer vigil for Parker Byrd Thursday Evening.
Byrd was involved in a serious boating accident, in July, while tubing in Bath Creek. A rope, which was attached to the boat, got caught in the propeller and drifted Byrd toward the boat, damaging both of his legs.
Parker’s mom, Mitzi Lee Byrd, posted on her Facebook page that doctors had expected him to make a full recovery, but became concerned this week, when the coloring and temperature of his right foot were off.
It resulted in a below-the-knee amputation to his right leg Thursday morning.
Mitzi Lee Byrd posted the following on Facebook after the amputation.
“Dr. Zeri did a below the knee amputation to his right leg. His complete calf muscle was dead and he had to go a bit higher to the knee than he would have liked to. The area right below the knee doesn’t have great blood supply… it’s there but not great. He isn’t confident that he won’t have to go back and do an above the knee amputation right now, because his muscles in his thigh are still not healed.”
Before knowing about the amputation, pastors Paul Lemmond and Michael Malpass were asked to set up a prayer vigil for Parker, on Wednesday afternoon, by several student athletes while going to visit him in Greenville.
“Parker is such a great kid and leader here at Scotland High School. He’s been a part of our ministry and Parker and I are pretty tight, so we just ran with it and got a lot of people together,” Lemmond said.
It was standing room only at the vigil as people turned out to pray for Byrd.
Bible verses were read by FCA members to uplift Byrd and give him motivation. Lemmond followed with a sound recording of Byrd from earlier in the day, speaking about the support he’s received throughout the community and asking for continued prayers. Pastor Tim Hodge, then, joined Lemmond on the field for praise and worship to celebrate the fact that Byrd is still alive.
Members of the Byrd family also came onto McCoy Field and gathered in prayer with participants of the vigil.
Two posters were present throughout the evening, to be signed by anyone who wanted to leave Parker words of encouragement, as well.
Parker has been through nine surgeries as of Friday morning.
Reach Brandon Hodge at [email protected]