Tonight there is another young boy in the hospital fighting for his life after he was violently knocked off his bicycle and what's worse is that his family may not even know his condition because no family member has shown up. He is 11 year old Edin Lara who was riding on Faber's Road close to its intersection with the Western Highway shortly after mid-day when he was hit. 7NEWS was on the scene and Alfonso Noble spoke to an eyewitness Bernadette Ciau.
Bernadette Ciau, Witness
"Well I was serve my children them dinner and we heard when a vehicle was trying to brakes and it took a long time trying to stop. Just as it stopped we heard a loud bang and when we came out here it was because a child was on the ground, on the street, over his bicycle. The child was hit. I thought it was mine (my child) and I started to scream because I thought it was my child until my child came out and I realized it was not him. He had just gone to the store and the way the vehicles they come out here we wouldn't know who but it was a child anyway. It was not mine but it was someone else's one."
The boy was taken to the KHMH where he is listed in a reserved condition tonight. Dr. Jose Carballo was the attending surgeon and he says fortunately even with his head wound, the skull wasn't fractured.
Dr. Jose Carballo, Attending Surgeon - KHMH
"The main injuries are to the back of the head. There is an open wound, only to the soft issue, but we took x-rays and there is no evidence of fracture at this point."
Keith Swift,
What's his prognosis for recovery?
Dr. Jose Carballo,
"With a head trauma its reserved especially on a 12 year old. The swelling will go on for the next 24 to 36 hours. At this point it has only been about 2 hours after the trauma so we still have another 20 or 30 hours for the swelling to go up, to increase. Since the skull cannot expand, we are going to some problems. We already have it under treatment to prevent the swelling or at least to reduce the swelling."
Keith Swift,
Is he awake right now?
Dr. Jose Carballo,
"He has episodes of on and off. He is responding to verbal commands and he is responding to pain but at times his pupils are very dilated, meaning that he is not responding, he is also very sleepy so those are the signs that we are looking at."
Again the boy's name is Edin Lara. He was riding on Faber's Road when the incident occurred.
