A Facebook page and the hashtag #prayforelijah7 have been set up for a Temecula boy who was critically injured at his own 10th birthday party over the weekend.
Elijah Belden, whose birthday is on Oct. 13, was placed into a medically induced coma after he suffered an electric shock near the pool in his family’s backyard while posing for pictures at his party, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The family told the newspaper that Elijah had touched a metal pole that had apparently become electrified.
The 9-year-old boy’s mother tried to help him as he lay on the ground, but she too sustained an electric shocked when she touched the pole, according to the Press-Enterprise.
The boy’s baseball coach, who was also a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy, then tried to intervene. He was initially shocked as well, but was eventually able to move the boy to safety, the newspaper reported.
The boy was rushed to a local-area hospital before being transported to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. He was last reported to be in critical condition, according to a Facebook page called “Pray for Elijah Belden,” which was monitoring his medical progress.
Tests conducted Monday on Elijah showed that there was no damage to his brain or heart, a post on the page stated. His lungs were also showing signs of improvements.
Doctors were hopeful that the child would be able to communicate with his family in five to six days, according to the post.
As the boy’s condition showed signs of improvement, the family was asking those that knew Elijah to posts pictures of the boy, along with happy memories or stories, in order to fill up the Facebook page “with amazing images of this boy,” a post read.
People were also being encouraged to post pictures of themselves on social media wearing the color pink with the hashtag #prayforelijah7, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The hope was that when Elijah woke up, he would be able to witness the “outpouring of love,” his father told the paper.
That outpouring has so far included more than 200 get well cards from his school and a quilt from a local church, according to the page.
His baseball team, the Cowboys, also dedicated a recent game to Elijah.
As of Tuesday morning, the Facebook page had more than 2,200 likes.