August 5th, 2018.
For many, this day was spent at Lollapalooza or spending time with family and friends. For Liam Buenaventura, this day was supposed to be spent celebrating his sister’s 18th birthday at Texas de Brazil. While on the way to the restaurant, Liam sat in his normal seat in the car…the left back row. While getting off I-90, the car was stopped at a light right off the ramp. All of a sudden, the car behind them, moving at a speed of 60 mph, hit them from the back. What seemed like hours were only a couple of minutes. As everyone in car was trying to process what had just happened, Liam’s family realized that one person wasn’t responding, and that was Liam. Because of the impact, Liam was crushed, and he was unconscious. The bystanders in the cars surrounding them helped carry everyone out of the car, but Liam had to be taken out by Paramedics. Liam was rushed to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. Both of his legs were broken, and he had bleeding to the brain. After multiple surgeries and infections in his legs, he is now in the process of healing.

The recovery process was nothing like how Liam imagined it would be.
“The first week after leaving the hospital, the doctors expected the wounds of the incisions to heal, but the wound got infected and the wounds on my shin and knee were discharging a bunch of blood and puss. Now it’s been over a month and 2 weeks,and the knee closed up and the shin almost is dry. The recovery process wasn’t hard except for the first week when I had to use the walker, which was painful for my right leg. Right now, I am just waiting for the shin wound to heal up.” The accident left him with severe injuries and modifications within his limbs. “I now have a metal nail in my right leg that is helping my tibia heal along with 4 screws. I needed a wheelchair for a month to get around, and now, I use a walker to get around my house. Also, there is a picc line —something like an IV directly to my heart— that I use to get antibiotics every 8 hours.”

Not only did his physical injuries impact his life, the accident took a mental toll on his stability. Whatever occurred before and after the accident was a blur. “I was sleeping when the accident happened, so I don’t remember anything before, but after, I woke up on a stretcher.”

Liam’s recovery is expected to take several more months.