Colorado boy, 8, suffers injuries after a freak accident in Belize

A Colorado boy is fighting for his life after he suffered life-threatening injuries, including a skull fracture and third degree burns, when he was dragged by a horse while on vacation in Belize.

Stefan Keryan, 8, was on a horseback excursion with his family on Wednesday when he fell off and was dragged on pavement for two miles. 

The boy was on his first Carnival Cruise with family when the boat stopped in Belize and the family decided to take a horseback riding tour. 

'I heard yelling and I looked over and as [the horse was] running past, I see that the saddle is flipped and that my son is being dragged by his foot,' Heidi Keryan, his mother, told Good Morning America. 'My older daughter and I started yelling and screaming and running as fast as we could to get to him but that horse was really fast.' 

The boy was stuck in Belize until Monday when he was flown back on Peak Medevac thanks to strangers who heard about his story.

Stefan Keryan, 8, was on a horseback riding excursion with his family in Belize when he fell off and was dragged for two miles on Wednesday

Stefan was on a Carnival Cruise vacation and suffered life-threatening injuries with a skull fracture and third degree burns

The horse that was dragging Stefan was stopped with the help of driver. 

Heidi said her family wasn't provided with helmets and the horse's owners weren't licensed to take them out on an excursion.

'If anybody knows of anybody that can come and get [him], that works too…or has any other ideas of how to get him out of here and back to Colorado as soon as possible that would be great, too,' Heidi said days before her son was brought home, according to CBS. 

'He's scared. He is in and out of consciousness. He is....he just wants to come home.'

Now, the 8-year-old is receiving medical treatment back home in Aurora, Colorado where he is being treated for his burns and a bruised brain. 

'My baby is finally home,' Heidi wrote on Facebook. 'Words cannot express the gratitude I have for all the angels and hero's who helped to rescue my son.

The boy didn't suffer any brain damage but might need surgery to replace a portion of his scalp, according to CBS News.

'We will get through everything else because he has the best care he can get at children's hospital,' Heidi continued. 'He is sleeping soundly now.'

Before Peak Medevac offered the family a free flight for Stefan, the was prepared to pay more than $12,000 to bring him home, according to a GoFundMe set up by Stefan's grandparents. 

His family estimated the hospital bills will cost around $50,000, but about $68,000 was raised on his fundraising page as of Tuesday.

The 8-year-old from Colorado was on vacation with his family when the accident occurred

He was stuck in Belize until Monday when two strangers offered to bring him home on a private plane after hearing about his story

Stefan was seen leaving the plane on Monday while on a stretcher. His family and teachers were waiting for him on the sidelines 

His teachers made signs and cheerfully waited for him near the runway. One teacher recalled him as being the 'sweetest' kid

Heidi, his mother, celebrated his return on Monday night. She previously revealed he told her that he didn't want to die

'My baby is home,' Heidi wrote in a post. Stefan was sleeping seen in a hospital bed after he arrived back to Colorado 

Stefan had told his parents that he didn't want to die. His mother feared he wouldn't get the same medical treatment in Belize that he would in Colorado 

In a heart breaking post before Stefan arrived back in the US, the mom revealed that her son told his family that he didn't want to die. 

'He told us that he does not want to die and we need your help to help increase his chances of survival,' Heidi wrote in a Facebook post last week while asking for donations.

Heidi feared that the treatment in Belize wouldn't be enough to save her son. She said her son was begging to go home before Peak Medevac helped bring him home.

Stefan's teachers made signs for his return and stationed themselves near the airplane runway as he was seen being taken out on a gurney on Monday.

'I was shocked and my heart was broken and I was scared for him and scared for the situation and I felt like we urgently needed to have a plan moving forward to help him all hands-on deck,' teacher Carisa Olmos told KDVR.

'We started talking with mom and we realized that mom’s efforts were not working as far as getting him back here to get medical care. So we connected with her and it was a team effort. We made phone calls, try a lot of things and the big push was getting the GoFundMe out there.'