A Riverhawks Men’s Lacrosse defensive player is out for the season after a near-fatal car accident on March 8.

Robert Gilman III, a second-year business administration student, his parents and brother were headed out for pizza when the accident occurred.

Gilman, who was in the hospital for 12 days and had surgery on his intestines, said he is surprised they survived.

“I’m here and I’m alive, not six feet under the ground,” said Gilman, who has withdrawn from classes. Still, he said he hopes to attend some of his team’s games and cheer on his teammates.

Gilman said he is recovering the use of the abdominal muscles that were injured in the accident.

“It’s all core,” he explained. “I do exercises [at home] my physical therapist told me to do.”

He said he will re-enroll at AACC next semester.

A GoFundMe page, set up to raise money to help cover the family’s accident-related bills, exceeded its $20,000 goal in the first 15 days after the accident.

Gilman said he is looking forward to returning to the lacrosse team when he can.

“I’m going to try to get back as soon as I can start running and doing all of the things I need to do to play,” he said.

Gilman said he and his brother were “on Snapchat one second and the next we were groaning and in pain. My dad was driving and my mom was in the passenger seat. I was behind my mom and my brother was behind my dad. Then someone hit us head on.”

The family was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

“We initially [were sent] into shock trauma,” Gilman said. “All five of us, even the driver who hit us.”

Gilman said he later learned the driver had broken his ankle in the crash. The family’s GoFundMe page says the driver was impaired.

Gilman’s mother broke her ribs on the left side from the airbag, Gilman explained. “The doctors were shocked that she was still alive. Her lungs were coming through her rib cage.”

He added: “My mother and I both had internal bleeding. My dad broke [bones] in his left leg. My brother broke his nose and chipped his tooth.”

Despite their injuries, Gilman said he and his family members are “recovering faster than expected.”