A YOUNG father has been left unable to walk properly or play with his little boy after suffering horrific injuries when he was hit by a car in the town centre.
Josh Sanders was walking along Wood Street with a friend at 11.30pm on May 6 when he was struck by a black Audi.
Josh, 25, remembers nothing of the incident but suffered life-threatening injures including a brain haemorrhage, facial fractures, broken shoulder blade, broken pelvis, broken jaw and bruising to his lungs. He also had an operation to drain the bleed on his brain, on his broken jaw and to fit metal plates into his face.
He was put in an induced coma and woke up to find himself hooked up to machines. He could not believe it when his family told him he had been in a serious crash.
He said: “I remember waking up in hospital and the staff telling me they had just brought me out of a coma which I think they induced because of all the injuries including the brain injury.
“I had no idea what had happened. I remember hearing voices and felt someone grip my hand. Then I remember falling to sleep and waking up, it could have been a day later, I don’t know.
“When I first looked down, I was covered in machines and was wearing a neck brace. I was in a lot pain, I couldn’t move.”
Josh was walking into town with his friend Gary Hoggett when he was hit. Gary said Josh was thrown in the air, and he thought he was dead.
Gary, 37, of Farrar Street, Barnsley, said: “I remember hearing cars, and I saw the car hit him. He went up in the air and it took him down the street.
“I was in shock. He was out and there was blood dripping from his head. I thought he was dead and was trying to shout for help.”
The emergency services arrived and Josh was taken to hospital where he spent about ten days.
He’s had to learn to cope with his injuries. But he cannot walk, and cannot play with his 20-month-old son Riley.
“I can’t walk very far. I can take one step and then another, but even old men don’t suffer like this. I can’t move any part of my body without having strong pain relief. It’s horrible.”
He is now facing months of rehabilitation and check-ups. He has appointments at fracture clinics and has been told he could suffer a seizure at any time.
“It’s depressing. I can’t play with my son, I can’t pick him up and it’s breaking my heart. He’s only 20 months and he doesn’t understand. It feels like I’m pushing him away, but I’m not, I just can’t physically do it.
“I was told it was a life-threatening situation and that I was lucky to be alive.”
A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing to stop after a collision and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He has been released under investigation.
