A US man has died after falling off the roof of his home while hanging Christmas lights.
Jo Cocco, 31, from South Carolina was decorating his home with festive lights on November 26 when he fell onto the ground, his sister-in-law Myranda Stewart wrote on GoFundMe.
Stewart said following the "horrible accident", Cocco was rushed to the emergency room where they found out he'd broken his neck.
"He went into emergency surgery to prevent damage to his spinal cord," Stewart said. "Unfortunately, during surgery they discovered he ruptured his C5 vertebrae, which resulted in a complete spinal cord injury.
"After undergoing multiple surgeries, it has been determined he is paralyzed from the neck down with little movement and sensation at his head and neck."
The initial prognosis was that Cocco was going to get off the ventilator and start making his recovery but things took a tragic turn and the 31-year-old died on Tuesday.
Stewart provided the tragic update saying, "our hearts are stricken by the immensity of grief as we have lost an incredible husband, father, brother, son, and friend."
Cocco's mother-in-law, Debbie Stewart, told local South Carolina publications that Cocco loved celebrating Christmas with his wife Hailey.
The couple has two daughters - an eight-year-old Gentry and an eight-week-old baby Blair.
"Hailey was inside decorating and he was outside getting the lights up so he could surprise the girls," Stewart told WYFF4.
She is now urging others to be careful when hanging Christmas lights at their homes.
"Just weather-wise lookout for any windy weather, just be really careful," she said.
About 14,800 people were treated for holiday decorating-related injuries in 2019, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
On average, there are about 160 decorating-related injuries a day, the commission reports.
