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Former Starr’s Mill student paralyzed after 36-foot fall

By MICHAEL J. THOMPSON
mthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

A 2001 graduate of Starr’s Mill High School and current University of West Georgia student is in critical condition at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta after a horrific three-story fall from an apartment balcony.

Josh Vanderbush, 22, fell from a third-floor balcony at Riverplace Apartments in Carrollton last Saturday morning, injuring his spinal cord in several places and also breaking numerous bones in his neck.

“He has spinal cord damage between his sixth and seventh vertebrae and a number of broken bones in his neck,” his father, Ricky said in a phone interview Wednesday.

He is paralyzed from his belly button down, his father said.

The details of Vanderbush’s fall are undetermined at this point, but what is known is that he fell on the morning of July 9 between the hours of 4 a.m to 6 a.m. “We are not positive,” said his dad about what took place.

After he fell, Vanderbush was somehow able to use his cell phone in his pocket to call the police.

“He was rushed by ambulance to Tanner Medical Center, and we received a call around 8 a.m that morning,” said his dad.

He was moved from Tanner to the Shepherd Center Monday.

Not much else is known about the fall, but his father said there is no evidence of foul play.

Matt Christopher, a junior at West Georgia and a 2003 graduate of Starr’s Mill and close friend of Vanderbush, was asleep in the apartment at the time of Vanderbush’s fall and said, “A friend woke me up and said we had to get to the hospital now, because during the night Josh fell off the balcony.”

I’m not really sure what happened, but I know that he somehow called the paramedics himself from his cellphone, because we were all asleep, Christopher said.

The balcony that Vanderbush fell from had a 36 to 44 inch guard railing, so we have no idea how he fell, said Christopher.

“We got to the hospital, hoping and praying things were okay ... he was in a full body splint and none of us knew what happened,” said Christopher.

Vanderbush, a senior at West Georgia majoring in marketing and management, graduated from Starr’s Mill High School in 2001. He played varsity soccer for the Panthers all four years he attended the school and was an integral part of the 3-AAA state championship team in 2000.

He attended North Georgia on a soccer scholarship in 2001, but transferred to Georgia State in 2002. He then transferred to West Georgia after two years at the Atlanta university.

Vanderbush’s parents, Linda and Ricky, currently reside in Senoia.

“He is a strong kid, we hope he can bounce back and we’re (his friends) going to help him every step of the way,” said Christopher.