Dylan Williams of Parksville is on the long road to recovery after being injured in a rollover crash in Nanoose Bay, but he has the support of family and community members in Parksville Qualicum Beach.
Williams, 17, suffered multiple injuries in the single-vehicle crash on Highway 19 on the Nanoose hill early Monday morning. He had to be extricated from the car, according to unit commander Sgt. Darrin Ramey of Central Vancouver Island Traffic Services.
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Ramey said Williams, the driver, lost control and rolled over into the ditch just off the highway, near Ross Road. There was a passenger in the car with Williams.
Williams was transported to the weigh scale near Parksville, where an air ambulance was waiting. Ramey said the air ambulance didn’t take off immediately as paramedics were “looking at him (the driver) for quite a while.”
Williams’ mother, Kelly Kapusta, told The NEWS Thursday that Williams is awake and talking, but he’s mostly sleeping. She said all of his immediate family is at the hospital.
“We really don’t know how he’s doing at this point, besides the injuries we’re aware of. The future right now is unknown,” she said. “We do expect close to a full recovery, if not a full recovery. But the doctors tell us it will probably be close to two years before he gets there.”
Of the injuries they do know of, Kapusta said Williams has a brain injury, a broken right arm, a broken right rib, and a broken left clavicle that is awaiting surgery. She said he also has pneumonia, emphysema and air around his lungs.
When Williams arrived at Victoria General Hospital, he was put on life support, according to a post from Kapusta early Wednesday morning (March 28)on the Facebook page, Support for Dylan Williams and family.
Kapusta said Williams is a “real athlete,” adding he plays hockey, baseball and is a referee.
“He just finished his last hockey game, probably three weeks before this happened,” Kapusta said of Williams who began playing in the Oceanside Minor Hockey Association at age five and who went on to compete in the Generals’ rep program.
Linda Stolz, who used to be neighbours with Kapusta, has created a GoFundMe crowd-sourcing account and the Facebook page for Williams and Kapusta, who is missing work to stay with her son while he’s in hospital.
Through Facebook, a meat draw and silent auction has been scheduled for April 7 at 3:30 p.m. at the French Creek Marine Pub (1025 Lee Rd.).
In the first two days of the GoFundMe account, 108 people had raised $10,470 of its $12,500 goal. The fund is to provide financial support for Williams and his family during his recovery.
Since Thursday, the GoFundMe goal has been increased to $15,000. As of Monday, April 2, $11, 250 had been raised for Kapusta and Williams.
On Sunday, Kapusta also put out an update to let people know Williams had been in surgey to put a plate and screws in his left clavicle and his right humerus.
The GoFundMe page can be found at www.gofundme.com/support-dylan-williams-and-family.
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