Phoenix Gureckas saw the vehicle heading for her younger brother and rushed to push him out of the way.
The 14 year-old saved her six year-old brother, her mother said, but the minivan smashed into hersending her flying into the windshield.
The Hamilton teen was left with so severe injuries she ended up spending four days in intensive care, with injuries that included two broken legs and a broken arm, a spinal fracture and a skull fracture, which caused a small brain bleed and some brain damage.
The tragedy happened on April 30 in the early evening.
Phoenix was out walking with her two younger brothers and three friends, said her mother, Jodi Pollington, in an interview Thursday.
Pollington said after the kids hung out at Roxborough Park, they decided to make their way over to Parkdale Elementary School to meet up with some more friends.
At the intersection of Parkdale Avenue North and Roxborough Avenue, those plans drastically changed.
Pollington said when it was time for them to cross the street at the intersection, her six-year-old son ran ahead of the group with the others in tow. But then, Phoenix noticed a vehicle coming toward them and made a run for her little brother of her.
“She pushed my youngest out of the way and before she could move, the car had already hit her,” said Pollington. “She only remembers running out there.”
Hamilton police said the teen was struck by a 2005 Nissan Quest minivan. The driver of the minivan allegedly failed to stop and fled the area.
Police recovered the vehicle with help from the public and charged the driver, a 30-year-old Hamilton woman, with failing to stop after a collision resulting in bodily harm. They have not yet named her her.
Const. Krista-Lee Ernst said the investigation into the collision is ongoing, and that Hamilton police have not released any further information.
Phoenix has finally regained consciousness after the crash, but she remembers very little from the incident, her mother said. She’s been moved out of intensive care, but she still requires a feeding tube and catheter.
“The doctors are really impressed with how things are going,” said Pollington. “But, she’s still very scared.”
The single mother described the moments after the crash as a “living nightmare” that she didn’t think could ever happen to her child.
And knowing Phoenix possibly saved the life of her younger brother has been “overwhelming.”
“She’s a hero in my eyes,” she said.
The crash has also shaken the faith Pollington once had in the safety of the city’s streets.
“I had trusted them to be good enough for my kids to be able to hangout with their friends and go to the park,” she said. “I’m now terrified to go outside with my kids.”
The crash that left Phoenix seriously injured was just one of many pedestrian-involved collisions that have spurred community outrage across the city. There have been 10 pedestrian deaths in Hamilton so far this year, including one involving a forklift at a workplace.
Pollington said the city should do more to protect pedestrians, including installing more speed cameras and red-light cameras at problematic intersections.
She is also hopeful Hamilton police will do additional patrolling in areas where pedestrians have been hit.
“We need more security,” Pollington said. “It’s very scary being outside right now.”
Meanwhile, she has barely left her daughter’s bedside at McMaster Children’s Hospital since Phoenix was rushed there Saturday evening.
Phoenix’s recovery is expected to take months, if not years, said Pollington. The teen will likely have to relearn how to walk and feed herself.
A close family friend has launched a GoFundMe for the family to help cover medical expenses and keep the family afloat, as Pollington has to be off work to help her daughter. As of Thursday afternoon, they’d raised around $2,375 of their $10,000 goal.
“It’s going to help my family out a lot,” she said.
But Pollington is hopeful that she can make one thing happen for her daughter, who is set to graduate from Grade 8 later this spring.
“She’s not missing it,” said Pollington. “She She she ‘s going to be there.”
Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. [email protected]