A 15 year old boy has sustained life-changing injuries, including an above-the-knee amputation, following a hit-and-run accident just days before Christmas. The devastating incident occurred on December 22, 2024, as Zach Michaels was cycling home from his grandmother’s house.
According to his mother, Maria Michaels, a nurse from Kirby, Liverpool, a speeding car struck Zach while he was navigating down a residential street, allegedly travelling at a shocking 70 miles per hour. The accident unfolded shortly after Zach departed from the home of his gran, Irene Martin, aged 70. Within a brief span of the five-minute ride back to his mother’s residence, the collision with the car happened along a school lane.
Neighbors quickly rushed to provide assistance, supplying blankets and calling for emergency services, having heard the terrible impact. Maria recounted how they were alerted to the catastrophe: “They alerted my mum, who told me and my partner,” said Maria.
Zach was left in a grave state on the road, suffering from open fractures and a punctured lung. He now faces a year-long rehabilitation journey. His mother shared her son’s courage: “Zach is an amazingly brave boy.It’s going to be a really, really long time before he’ll be discharged from hospital. He’s got his amputation wound which will need healing, his fractures and tendons need to heal.”
Following the crash, she described the harrowing scene they encountered: “We got in the car and drove down – by the time we got there, the police had already arrived. Zach’s body was just contorted; the shape he’d been left in didn’t look normal. He was fully conscious the whole time, and he just kept saying: ‘Mum, mum, I don’t want to die.’ Paramedics had to stabilise him in the middle of the road, because it was the safest thing to do – he had bones protruding from his body.”
Once Zach was stabilised, he was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, and sent straight to theatre. His numerous injuries included open fractures to the right leg, a fractured spine and ligament damage to the neck.
He had to undergo a different surgery every day, over seven days – resulting in an above-the-knee amputation on his right leg. “It just got to a point where that leg had no blood supply. Eventually the doctors said: ‘We’ve tried everything we can, and we’re going to have to amputate.’” “It was absolutely heartbreaking. I’ve never done anything in my life as hard as signing that consent form – but he would’ve died if I hadn’t.”
Two days after his amputation, Zach was taken off his ventilator and began to regain consciousness. His parents waited until he was lucid to explain to him about his leg. When Maria and ex-partner Chris Farr, 39, told Zach about the amputation, he began “begging for his leg back.”
She said: “He was begging us for his leg back, and begging to come home. He said: ‘Please, please, I don’t want to be here.’” “It wasn’t until yesterday [January 4], that this brave boy asked to see his leg for the first time. He looked at the stump, and he had a cry. But later on, he said: ‘Right, I’m just going to do this and get on with it,’ just like the old Zach.”
With uncertainty clouding his stay in hospital, doctors are hesitant to set a timeline for Zach’s discharge. His road to recovery is expected to be arduous, demanding relearning basic movements for his right leg and grappling with the challenge of regaining grip in his left wrist due to tendon damage.
In support of his journey, his aunt has launched a JustGiving page to aid his rehabilitation. The fundraiser has successfully amassed £6,153 thus far, earmarked for accessibility equipment essential for Zach’s homecoming. You can contribute to the campaign here.
