Nearly two weeks after suffering a severe head injury in a hoverboard accident near Nocatee’s Splash Water Park, a local father is beginning to show encouraging signs of recovery.
In a video shared Wednesday on social media, Vinny Rivera responds to nurses’ commands during rehabilitation — lifting one thumb, then the other, and even flashing a playful middle finger as people around him cheer him on.
Rivera’s wife, Chanin Rivera, shared the emotional milestone in a Facebook post marking 15 days since the accident.
“This morning he said to me, ‘I’m blessed.’ I said, ‘Yes, you are so blessed,’” she wrote. “Then he took my hand and kissed it.”
Rivera was critically injured when witnesses say he fell from a hoverboard on a path behind the park and struck his head on the ground.
The nearby pickleball and basketball courts were crowded at the time, and several people rushed from the courts to help.
Deputies with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office interviewed witnesses as family members — including Rivera’s wife — arrived at the scene.
A medical helicopter later landed in a nearby soccer field and flew Rivera to a hospital for advanced treatment.
Rivera was admitted to the intensive care unit with a severe head injury.
He is the father of two young daughters, including a 5-month-old baby.
A GoFundMe fundraiser created to help the family with medical bills and time away from work quickly gained support from neighbors and friends across the community, raising nearly $60,000.
