Joseph Flavill, 19, suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was hit by the car in the central English town of Burton-on-Trent on March 1 last year, about three weeks before a first national lockdown was imposed to curb the spread of the virus.
Joseph, who before the accident was a keen sportsman, is now receiving treatment at a care centre in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, and his family has started a fund-raising campaign to help support his long-term recovery.
The British teen is only just emerging from his coma, and he has no knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic even though he has caught the virus twice.
During that time his family has been largely unable to be near him and hold his hand due to coronavirus restrictions, mostly trying to communicate with him via video chat.
“Recently Joseph has started to show small signs of recovery, which we are thrilled about… We know now he can hear us, he responds to small commands,” his aunt, Sally Flavill, told Reuters.
“I don’t know how Joseph will ever understand our stories of this lockdown,” his aunt said, adding that he was still very ill and faced a “very, very long journey” back to some kind of normal life.
