A devastated mum whose son is fighting for his life after a car crash is warning others about the importance of wearing a seatbelt.
Louise Keenleyside’s 14-year-old son Liam Owen wasn’t wearing a belt when the car he was a passenger in smashed into the window of a beauty salon at around 60mph.
The “bubbly” teenager slammed into the front seat, punctured his lung which filled with blood and had to be drained with scissors by paramedics while he was still awake.
Doctors say the schoolboy, who was only going for a two-minute drive, is lucky to be alive and will walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
The mum of four has chosen to release these images of him fighting for his life in hospital to remind people of the importance of wearing the safety device no matter how short the journey.
Liam would have been celebrating his 15th birthday next week with friends but instead
he will be on a children’s high dependency critical unit at King’s College Hospital in London.
Louise hasn’t left her 14-year-old son’s bedside in hospital as he undergoes major surgery, including facial reconstruction.
Louise, from Margate, Kent, said: “I am sleeping in a camp bed right beside his bed. I won’t leave him, I want to make sure he is okay and looked after.
“He can’t really have a proper conversation but when he wakes up he looks straight at me and says ‘mum, don’t leave’.”
Doctors have told her Liam will be lucky to be up and walking by Christmas.
Another passenger, Liam’s friend Levi Bullen, 14, who was sitting in the front seat of the car, escaped with bruising because he was wearing a seat belt.
Today Louise, who says she wishes she could switch places with her son and “take his pain”, is urging people to wear seat belts, even though she did not in the past.
Source: MirrorUK