Diane Turner is living through her worst nightmare.

Her son Grant, 25, was seriously injured July 4 while swimming in Lake Success in California.

"I'm a swim instructor. That's what makes this so hard," said Turner, of Hayden, in a telephone interview from California.

She and her husband, Steve Turner, and the couple's other son, Ian, have been by Grant's bedside in the intensive care unit at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno since shortly after Grant was airlifted to the hospital.

The accident happened while Grant, a Coeur d'Alene High School graduate, and his wife, Ashley, were in California visiting Ashley's mother and stepfather for the holiday weekend. They went swimming from a houseboat on the lake, and during a dive Grant hit a high sandbar, severing his spine.

"They were being responsible. They checked the depth with the anchor. Ashley is also a lifeguard and trained in lifeguard safety," Diane Turner said.

Grant does not have brain damage, she said, but the impact broke his fifth cervical vertebrae. It is unclear if he will walk again, or regain the use of his arms.

He has had neck surgery and is currently heavily sedated and relying on a ventilator to breathe.

Grant is also being treated for a lung infection and is sleeping in a special bed that rotates him, to help his lungs function better while they heal.

"He had water in his lungs," Turner said. "This is my biggest nightmare, having been a swim instructor. My kid is fighting for his life because he had that water sitting in his lungs."

Turner taught swimming for 38 years. She began teaching at the YMCA once located on River Road in Coeur d'Alene. She started on the Y's swim team and worked her way to instructor and then became a coach.

"I worked there until the pool shut down. That was my life: Swimming," she said.

She taught swimming from her home until last year when health issues forced her to stop.

She said when Grant was conscious following the accident, he was worried about his bills, his work and his truck.

Before being injured, he was living with Ashley in Cathlamet, a town in western Washington. He is a welder, and worked for a maritime company that builds tugboats.

"He is a very, very good welder. He loved his job," Turner said. "Our biggest hope and prayer is that he gets the use of his arms back, because he would have a good chance to go back to welding again, even if he is in a wheelchair."

Both of Turner's sons played football for Coeur d'Alene High and they were Eagle Scouts. Grant also wrestled and played golf.

He loves to hunt, fish and go camping, Turner said. "Sitting was not in his vocabulary."

Since the accident happened, friends and family have rallied, using social media to send love, prayers and words of support. Several fundraising efforts are underway.

"Looking at the Facebook page and the social networking, it is just so overwhelming," Turner said. "It is amazing to me that people will just reach out and go above and beyond in the words they say and the love they are giving to us."

Turner said everything she reads on social media makes her cry.

"But it is what is getting me through this," she said. "It's the hardest thing I've ever been through in my entire life, and we've been through a lot."

Turner said she knows the Coeur d'Alene community is a generous, caring one. She pointed to the recent outpouring of support for the family of Sgt. Greg Moore, a Coeur d'Alene police officer killed in the line of duty in May.

"I was so proud to be living in Coeur d'Alene," Turner said. "I knew I lived in a great town, and now I know it even more, but I never wanted to know it firsthand."

To help the family pay for medical bills not covered by insurance, travel costs and other expenses that will be incurred as a result of the accident, an account has been set up at Bank of Pacific, P.O. Box 337, Cathlamet, WA 98612. Checks can be made out to The Turner Fund.

Donations can also be made online at http://bit.ly/1HsfI9j

A Facebook group "Updates on Grant Turner" offers additional information and a way to leave words of support, good thoughts and prayers for Grant, Ashley and the rest of the Turners.