Round Rock man in intensive care after hoverboard fall

Robert Maker's wife, Angela, said he has always been a fan of trying out new toys, but when he bought a Smart Balance Wheel on eBay two months ago, she had a bad feeling about it.

"I said, 'There's something wrong with this board,' cause it would just go like this and start spinning. And I said, 'Stay off of that thing. You're going to hurt yourself,'" said Angela. 

Robert practiced riding the board almost every day around his neighborhood in Round Rock.

Sunday evening, Robert and his son were visiting his parents in Pensacola, Florida, when they decided to take the hoverboard for a spin. That's when Angela's fear came true.

"When he hit, it hit so hard, he whiplashed his head back into the pavement and that's when he started bleeding from the ear and it knocked him unconscious," said Angela.  

Robert was transported to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola with injuries so severe he remains in the Intensive Care Unit to this day.

"Fractured skull, bleeding from the brain, now he's clotting up in the lobes," Angela said.

"Bleeding from the ear, swelling in the brain… It won't go down," Robert's daughter Amber added. 

Angela said her husband is suffering short term memory loss and will have to go through months of therapy to regain motor skills. The area of his brain that was injured could affect his personality for the rest of his life.

"He has no idea why he's in there and he keeps texting me telling me that he's going to come home tonight or tomorrow," said Angela.

The Makers are hoping Robert's story will be a warning to anyone that rides a hoverboard.

"Leave them alone. They're very dangerous and we're just waiting for someone to die. We're waiting for someone to die from it and he came very, very close," Angela said. 

According to Angela, the only thing that could have prevented her husband's traumatic brain injury is a helmet.

"I wish these boards would just be banned, honestly.  They're so dangerous. How many people have you seen wear a helmet on these things? None. I have not seen one person wear a helmet," said Angela. 

She hopes that's about to change.

"Wear a helmet. If you're going to ride one, wear a helmet," said Angela. 

Angela is already working with lawyers to take legal action against the company that sold her husband the board.

She hopes to bring Robert home from the hospital next week.