LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A Las Vegas teenager is recovering after he and his friend were hit by a truck while riding a dirt bike in the west valley.
“You can tell the impact,” Tosha Osborn said, referencing the bike. “It bent back.”
Osborn spoke with 8 News Now Friday, explaining what happened to her son.
“They both got thrown,” Osborn said. “One was 20 feet, one was 30 feet.”
Wyatt Dakin’s life changed in an instant when he and his friend were hit by a truck while riding his dirt bike in the west valley last month.
“No parent should have to go through this,” Osborn said.
The 14-year-old is now at University Medical Center with two broken legs, three broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a traumatic brain injury, and a shattered hand.
Osborn told 8 News Now that part of the reason Wyatt was so badly hurt was that he jumped into action to shield his friend from the impact.
“He grabbed his bag, pulled him on top of him, and held him there,” she explained. “To stop him from hitting the ground harder.”
Wyatt’s friend broke his leg and fractured a part of his face, but he is out of the hospital.
It was a heroic act by a kid who’s lucky to be alive, but Osborn told 8 News Now that his road to recovery will be long and complicated.
“The hospital hit us up within a few days,” Osborn said. “Telling us that as of that moment, our bill is $300,000 and we were out of network.”
On top of those mounting medical bills, the neurological care Dakin needs is not available in Nevada.
“From what we are told, any kind of neuro-type rehab on the pediatric side,” “There’s nothing here in the state, it’s all outsourced between California, Utah, and Arizona.”
It is all more than many can imagine dealing with, but Osborn hopes this tragic story will help others stay aware behind the wheel.
“Watch the roads,” she said. “You never know with these e-bikes and scooters, and you know kids are riding everything now.”
She said she knows the situation could have ended much differently.
“They’re alive,” she concluded. “More than anything, more than money, they are alive.”
Wyatt’s karate studio, Victory Martial Arts, is holding a raffle fundraiser to help the family.
The family has started a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.
The driver of the truck involved in the crash stayed on the scene, and the investigation is ongoing, Osborn told 8 News Now.
