ROME - Friends say an 8-year-old boy seriously hurt when he was struck in the head by a tree while swimming in a northwest Georgia creek is making progress during his recovery.

Family friend Steve Tanner tells the Rome News-Tribune that Cade Maynor is still on a ventilator, but he's breathing some on his own. Tanner also said that swelling is still going down in his brain.

Authorities said the tree snapped and fell on the boy Thursday, as he swam in Silver Creek just south of Rome.

Authorities said Cade was swimming near a tree that held a rope swing. Witnesses said that after someone jumped off the swing into the water, the tree snapped and hit the boy in the head.

He was being treated at a hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn.