*ProstheticAndRehabAndRelief

Hello, I’m doing as best as I can. I used to work for a contractor and he used to give me jobs from Empire Today. On October 9, 2024 he gave me 2 jobs in Alabama and I went to go do them. My pregnant girlfriend accompanied me at the time so that I wouldn’t go alone. I did both jobs and when I was done I decided to drive home, I wasn’t tired, I felt good. I pumped gas in Alabama and I got on the highway. That’s the last thing I remember. When we were driving back we were near Atlanta on I-20 and someone got drunk and got into his car. He got on the highway and got on the wrong side of the highway, driving against traffic. He hit 3 cars, us being one of them. At the time my van had broken down so my boss had let me use one of his vans. The drunk driver hit us so hard that our van flipped over and started rolling over. When it stopped rolling the van caught on fire. My girlfriend didn’t have her seatbelt on because she was covered in a blanket so she ended up sticking out the window. Traffic was stopped and some people got off to help. They pulled her out and dragged her to safety. Her phone had somehow landed next to her and didn’t break. She called 911 and then called her mom. She started yelling at the people helping to get me out. I was wearing a seatbelt and I was stuck in the van while it was starting to catch fire. A trucker named Polo had gotten off to see what had happened. He saw me stuck in the van screaming for help and he went to go get a fire extinguisher and a thick jacket. He tried to pull me out but I was really stuck. From what I was told he said “this young man isn’t dieing here, if he dies, I’m dieing with him” and he went in the van to get me unstuck from my legs. Then he came back out and pulled me out. He said as soon as he pulled me out the van engulfed into flames. My girlfriend and I were taken to Grady Hospital. They cleaned her up and stitched her wounds on her face and head. She also had a fractured pelvic bone. Later on they would check on the baby and Thankfully by some miracle our baby was still alive and doing well. As for me from what I was told I was screaming from pain that the doctors had to put me an in induced coma. I had a broken femur bone on my left leg, broken ribs, broken bones on my face near my nose, I had a burst fracture in my spine, I had a head injury, and I had 3rd and 4th degree burns on my legs. Once I was in the induced coma the doctors put a metal rod in my left thigh to fix my broken femur bone. Then they started checking my feet and legs to see if i still had a pulse in my feet. My right foot did but unfortunately my left foot had a really weak, faint pulse and my toes were already starting to turn black and my foot was already really cold. The doctors had to amputate my left leg from halfway from my left shin down. Then I had surgery after surgery to repair my skin on my right leg. From what I understand the doctors had to peel the dead skin from my leg and then peel healthy skin and stretch it to apply skin grafts to the damaged areas. On my right ankle the damage was so bad that I had exposed bone and tendons so the doctors applied special things (honestly I don’t even know what it was called) a thing that acted like skin but would integrate itself into my body and the doctors also put umbilical cords either side of my ankle because of it’s regenerative properties. Thankfully the doctors efforts worked and then when they applied skin grafts again the skin grafts took, meaning that they stuck and were successfully applied. That was the most nerve wrecking part that I remember because by that time I was awake and aware and the doctors had said that if the skin grafts don’t take, the only other option would be to amputate my right foot. Luckily the skin grafts took on my right leg and on December 26, 2024 I was released from Grady but I was transferred to Emory Decatur for mandatory rehab. I was in rehab for 2 weeks and on January 8, 2025 I finally went home. My girlfriend was with me for the majority of my time in the hospital/rehab and my mom was there every single day of me being in the hospital/rehab. Our baby is doing good, she’s healthy and in the correct position to be birth. My girlfriend is due on March 20th. We already had a baby shower about a month ago. I can’t work anymore so now I’m at home focusing on my rehab process. I do stretches and exercises everyday. I also go to therapy every week at Grady. I have an appointment on March 21st with the doctor that performed the amputation on me, and once he gives his approval I can start the prosthetic process. I contracted Gary Martin Hays as my legal representation to fight my cases. That’s a long ongoing process. My family helps me out as best as they can. I take a bunch of meds every morning and every night. I know that all 3 of us are lucky to be alive and I’m grateful everyday. We’re excited to welcome our baby girl soon! Her name will be Ximena Milagros Perez Moreno. We chose Milagros as her middle name because it’s the spanish word for Miracles.