Columbus East graduate Aaron Cepeda is surrounded by friends and fellow Marines while recovering from a car accident at Camp Pendleton near San Diego.
Submitted photos
Jennifer Cepeda flew to San Diego over Fall Break last month to spend some time with her son Aaron, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton with the Marines.
Jennifer arrived on Oct. 8, and the next day, she and Aaron were planning to go to the beach. But on his way to pick up his mom at her hotel, Aaron was involved in a horrific crash.
“He doesn’t remember what happened,” Jennifer said. “The police report said he tried to pass somebody on the right, and he came upon a car and slammed on his brakes and went off the side of the road and down an embankment. The car landed on its hood. He was upside down and unconscious. It took them 30 minutes to get him out. They had to use the Jaws of Life.”
Aaron’s spinal cord was severed in the crash, and he is paralyzed from the waist down. He spent about a week in a hospital before being transferred to a rehabilitation facility in La Jolla, California.
Jennifer, who teaches seventh-grade English to the “Bolt” team at Central Middle School, spent an extra week in California, but with visitation limited, but flew back to Columbus to resume work and look for a handicap-accessible house for Aaron to live when he gets out of the rehab facility.
“I have to buy a house,” Jennifer said. “He doesn’t want to stay in California because it’s expensive to live there.”
So Jennifer’s friend and coworker Chasidy Kannianen is coordinating a fundraising effort to be used for Aaron’s care. The venmo is @pfccepedastrong
Also, Jakob Hollander, a friend of Aaron, has set up a GoFundMe account at https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-well-soon-cepeda
“People who are donating money and are donating for fund-raisers, that money is going for Aaron,” Jennifer said. “Any donations are going toward getting him a house and whatever he needs. There’s lots of resources out there that whenever I do get a place for him, non-profit groups will come and put in the ramps and make sure the doors are wide enough and make sure the shower is able to be used. Whatever he needs to be able to function in that house, that’s what the fundraising are going to.”
Aaron in the band and was a wrestler for three years at Columbus East after she and Jennifer moved from Speedway after his freshman year. He was a regional wrestling qualifier at 195 pounds as a junior in 2019.
A week after his graduation in 2020, Aaron left for boot camp in San Diego. He did radio operator training at MOS at 29 Palms in California.
Aaron arrived at Camp Pendleton in June and was to be there for three years. He is a Private First Class and could be promoted to Lance Corporal.
“He could have gone anywhere he wanted to for free on a music scholarship, but that’s not what he wanted,” Jennifer said. “He always wanted to do the military.”
Aaron is scheduled to remain in the rehab center until Jan. 19, then will be in the Wounded Warrior battalion until the Marines medically discharge him.
“The only good thing about him having this accident is that he was in the top physical shape of his life,” Jennifer said. “He was always in the gym, and he ate right, so he was in good physical shape. The car crash, as horrific as it was, the only injury he had was to his back.”
Jennifer is grateful for all the support she and Aaron have received.
“There’s been so much support and so much kindness that’s been brought out,” Jennifer said. “All of his friends from the wrestling and the sporting community, the BCSC community has been supportive. It’s so appreciated, and I’m so grateful. I really can’t wait for my son to come home because this is home.”
