It has been a long, hard journey for one young student with interests in biochemistry, biomedical sciences and mathematics. He came from Nepal to get a college education in the United States, only to find himself trying to recover from a back injury sustained when a bus crashed on its way to New York City.
To make matters worse, his mother was with him on the trip; she sustained a spinal cord injury that has left her in intensive care.
The recent graduate attended Central Michigan University. After graduation, he went with his mother to visit friends and family in North Carolina. In May, they departed North Carolina on a tour bus bound for New York City.
It crashed when its fatigued driver reportedly fell asleep. Four people were killed in the wreck that happened in Virginia; dozens were injured, including the recent graduate and his mother.
The mother sustained “serious spinal cord injuries,” according to a Michigan newspaper.
Her son sustained bone fractures in his back and is now confined to a brace. According to the newspaper, he faces the possibility of corrective surgery in the near future.
The mother’s future is grimmer. She has spent the weeks since the crash on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. Doctors say only now is she stable enough to move to a spinal cord rehabilitation center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
These kinds of tragedies are preventable. Too often we read of bus crashes caused by fatigued drivers. It’s clear that the bus companies flout government regulations requiring rested, trained drivers behind the wheel of every commercial bus.
The only recourse for those who are injured or lose loved ones is to fight for compensation and justice with a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.
Source: The Morning Sun: “CMU graduate and mother injured in charter bus rollover” by Ryan Berlin: June 23, 2011