Sixteen-year-old crash victim Shakir Amory hopes to be home in June.

The CedarBridge Academy student has been in the King Edward Memorial Hospital since March 7 when he was involved in a collision with a suspected drunk driver in Devonshire soon after he left a family gathering. Since then his recovery has been amazing, but it is not yet over. Any day now he and his father André will head to the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston for another six to eight weeks of intensive treatment.

When he was rushed to hospital nearly six weeks ago his left lung had collapsed, he had broken his jaw, both femurs and his left collarbone.

There was also serious swelling to the brain. And while Shakir doesn’t remember the night, his father and mother Roslyn most certainly do.

“It is the phone call no parent wants to receive,” Mr. Amory said. “I had just turned to my wife and said ‘Shakir should have been home by now’ when the phone rang.

“This woman said ‘do you know Shakir’ and I knew, I knew he had been in an accident. She said ‘there has been an accident you better hurry to the hospital’. I don’t even know who that woman was, she was someone at the crash who found his phone saw Daddy in the phone and called.

“When I first saw him at the hospital I cried, he had this prong coming out of his head. It looked real bad.”

Shakir was put in a medically induced paralysis to allow his body time to recover for several days. Since then it has been a long road to recovery involving five surgeries. He now has a metal rod in his right leg and a metal plate in his left leg as well as metal plates around his jaw.

When The Royal Gazette visited Shakir yesterday he was busy playing a Fifa game on his play station, the games have been prescribed by the doctors to help improve his motor skills and cognitive functioning.

On a scale of one to eight of the internationally recognised Ranch Los Amigos Level of Cognitive Recovery scale Shakir is now at stage six, which means his memory is poor and he can become confused easily. Five weeks ago he was rated four out of eight.

On Sunday he was able to leave the hospital for the first time and went to the Botanical Gardens with his family for a short while.

Despite all the surgeries and broken bones Shakir said he wasn’t in pain but agreed that he got frustrated at times and said the main thing he missed while being in the hospital was his home.

“He has been angry at times,” his father said. “But I have had to talk with him and tell him it is not his fault he is in here and it is not our fault so he cannot take it out on us.

“When we go to Spaulding he is going to have a lot of determination which is why I am going with him, at Spaulding they like family to be there to help with the process.”

Since the accident the Amory family have received an outpouring of support from all areas of the Island. Cards have been sent by Francis Patton, Bermuda Institute and Mount Saint Agnes schools as well as a giant one from his classmates at CedarBridge. Parishioners from the St. George’s Seventh Day Adventist Church have stopped into visit and prayer groups have been held at Evangelical and Catholic churches.

And the care they have received tat the hospital from staff at the Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit and Children’s Ward has been excellent they said.

Asked if the community could do anything to help them Mrs. Amory said: “Just pray. Keep praying, we have come a long way but Shakir is still recovering. Shakir truly is a miracle and we are just so happy to have our son.” The family said Police have told them they are conducting a thorough investigation into the accident. At the time of the crash Shakir was driving his auxiliary cycle along South Road near the Brighton Hill junction around 11.30 p.m. when he was involved in a collision with a car driven by a 36-year-old woman from Smith’s. She was subsequently arrested on suspicion of impaired driving.

A Police spokesman yesterday said no one has been charged but added: “There is an active investigation, Police are following different lines of inquiries.”