Mother-of-four Louise Keenleyside has not left her son's bedside in hospital as he undergoes major surgery - including facial reconstruction. Ms Keenleyside, from Margate, Kent, said: 'I am sleeping in a camp bed right beside his bed. I won't leave him., I want to make sure he is OK and looked after. 'He can't really have a proper conversation but when he wakes up, he looks straight at me and says, "Mum, don't leave".'
Doctors have told her that Liam will be lucky to be up and walking by Christmas. The passenger riding in the front seat of the car, Liam's friend Levi Bullen, also 14, escaped with bruising because he was wearing a seatbelt. Today, Ms Keenleyside, who says she wishes she could switch places with her son and 'take his pain', is urging people to wear seatbelts - even though she did not in the past.
The 30-year-old said: 'Liam was not wearing a seatbelt. I used to hardly ever wear my seatbelt.
'I used to get in the car and forget to put it on - but I still always made him put it on. The safety of my kids, my passengers, was most important. 'Liam was only going for a two-minute drive so he thought it was OK, but his injuries are so bad because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
'He went straight into the back of the driver's seat. His friend Levi got away with nothing but bruising because he was wearing a seatbelt. ''I am very strict with my kids. I let him out once and this is what happened. If I could switch places with him and take the pain I would, I really would.'
She said Liam had been staying overnight at Levi's house and the two boys had gone out for a short drive in a car being driven by a 20-year-old neighbour in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The car Liam was sitting in the back seat of ploughed into a Girls World beauty salon in Minster, Kent, at 1.45am. Ms Keenleyside added: 'I got there and had to watch him. There was so much blood I thought it was alcohol at first. 'I watched people stick scissors in him to drain his lungs and put him in an ambulance.
'His pelvis is fractured. He will be able to walk again - he keeps wiggling his feet in bed - but his walking will be affected for the rest of his life. 'He went down at 2.30pm yesterday for surgery on his legs. He has an infection and a temperature. They have given him a push button for the morphine.
'The doctors say all he has going for him is his youth - if he was older, he would have gone by now.
'They said they will make cuts from his ear and may have to put in metal plates. He may have to have teeth taken out. 'He will need speech therapy after the surgery and he won't be able to eat anything. He will need to be on a liquid diet for six weeks after this.'
Liam has been taken into surgery today for facial work and might not be out of hospital before the end of the year.
His mother said: 'He is loved by everyone. Liam is bubbly, he lights up the room anywhere he goes. He is polite, he would do anything for anyone - and he loves his food. Ms Keenleyside, who lost her father this year and is supporting her mother through breast cancer, says seeing her son in this state is pushing her to breaking point. She said: 'I feel like I am in a daze, it hasn't hit me yet. I was walking around London in the rain crying with sandals on yesterday while he was in surgery.
'I feel numb inside. I can take any more things like this. Our family can't take much more.'
Source- Dailymail
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