Gurnee Hit and Run Survivor Shares His Story

On the early morning hours of January 22, 2018 while walking into work I became the victim of a hit-and-run accident at Glenbrook Hospital 2050 Pfingsten Rd., Glenview, Illinois 60026. I was taken into the emergency room with a fractured fibula above my right ankle, unable to move my right leg, and released to follow-up with an orthopedic doctor. My first appointment was two days after the accident and that is when I began my nearly one year journey in and out of Orthopedics, Spine, Neurology, and Neurosurgeon clinics. I have been diagnosed with the following:
• Bilateral perineal neuropathy
• Bilateral drop foot
• Brisk reflexes
• Disperse muscle weakness
• Partially torn rotator cuff, left shoulder
• Bilateral carpal tunnel
• Bilateral ulnar neuropathy
• Herniated disc at L4/L5, causing right drop foot requiring an AFO
• Herniated disc at T5/T6, causing spinal cord flattening
• 250 pound weight loss, unexplained

I am currently going through more medical testing for a second opinion with Neurology before going back to the Spine Surgeon to fix my thoracic myelopathy. I am currently awaiting approval and scheduling of a spinal tap. I am unable to work and cannot even lift my two year old son nor drive due to drop foot. The officer who watched the hospital surveillance footage of my accident stated it was hard to watch and she was surprised I was alive.
The driver fled the scene. I later found out his wife works at the hospital as well and he was dropping her off when he sped through two stop signs and threw me out of my shoes and into this whirlwind of 2018. His wife drove to work the next day and parked the vehicle, a Chevy Equinox, and the police were able to identify the SUV with hospital surveillance footage. The Glenview Police confiscated the car and I was told by the officer handling my complaint that the wife tried reporting the car stolen. The case was handed off to traffic and it took roughly a week and a half for the driver to turn himself in. I received copies of his citations in the mail and discovered he was driving on a cancelled license. He should have never been behind the wheel in the first place. After two court dates, the driver pled guilty to failure to render aid and received a plea deal of one year supervision, told not to drive anymore, and roughly a $600 fine.
I begged the state attorney not to accept a plea deal. She told me she was doing what she felt the judge would proceed with due to the driver not having any prior record.
My accident was swept under the rug and I am left to attempt to pick up the pieces of my life while struggling to find a complete diagnosis and raise my five children on workman’s comp (only roughly 66% of my pay) and having to pay my employer back for medical insurance premiums. I recently applied for disability at the advice of my attorney. This is not how I saw my life at the age of 32.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please help me share this with the world as I hope to raise awareness on a broad scale and start a petition in December to change the outcome of these cases.

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