Chapel Hill 5-year-old hospitalized, in wheelchair after car crash
The child’s broken leg will take six months to heal.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A car crash in Chapel Hill Saturday night left two people with serious injuries, including a five-year-old boy who was heading home with his family from a birthday party.
Danielle Proctor said she was driving on North Horton Parkway around 8 p.m. with her son, Maverick, 5, and daughter, Mallory, 1, when a speeding car behind them crashed into the back of their car. The impact sent Proctor and the kids spinning off the road and into a tree.
“My first thought was, ‘I’m okay, I’m breathing. I’m conscious. I’m just gonna turn around and look,’ and I was really afraid to, but [Maverick] was already screaming,” Proctor said. “I actually pulled him out of his seat and then just kind of laid him in the passenger seat. I got [Mallory] out of her seat and waited for the police and the ambulance and them to show up.”
According to the Chapel Hill Town Administrator, witnesses saw a speeding white Toyota Avalon hit Proctor’s Nissan Altima. The Avalon left the road and rolled three times. The driver of the Altima, Cemir Antunez Campos, was extricated from the car and airlifted to Skyline Medical Center, where he is still being treated.
Proctor’s husband, Nicolas Adcock, was following behind them and pulled up to the wreckage.
“I didn’t know who was alive and who wasn’t,” Adcock said. “I was probably half a football field away from the car. All I could hear was Maverick screaming.”
“Where it ended up, it didn’t look like anybody was gonna be alive in that car,” he said.
The Chapel Hill Fire Department used the Jaws of Life to get Proctor and her children out of the car. Maverick was flown in a helicopter to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital with a severely broken leg.
He is home now but will likely be in a cast for the next six months, his mom said. She said the biggest challenge they anticipate is Maverick not being able to play outside or do his normal activities.
“He does love riding bikes,” she said. “He actually just learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, so we’re gonna probably have to reteach him on that.”
As for Proctor, she also sustained bruising and internal lung bleeding. Therefore, she cannot pick up Maverick to help him every day. Her husband has to stay home from work for a while to help care for him.
“It has a pretty big effect on the household. I bring in a large portion of that household income right now,” Adcock said.
And mentally, the crash has taken a toll, Proctor said. Maverick has not been able to sleep well, and neither has she.
“It’s been terrible, honestly,” she said. “Mentally it’s taken such a toll, I haven’t been able to really eat or like get out of the bed as much.”
However, Proctor and Adcock said they are focusing on the positive of the accident, which is that they are still alive to tell this story.
“I feel like this definitely will make us stronger once we get out on the other side of this.”
To donate to the Proctor family, view their GoFundMe page here.
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