FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Next month Trenton Gatlin-Ketter will turn 6 years old. Instead of playing outside and enjoying his special day, he'll be in his wheelchair.
The child was partially paralyzed after police say a drunk driver crashed into him and his mom.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, the crash happened just before 9 p.m. on July 11, along Richmond Highway near Holly Hill Road in the Groveton area
Detectives say 45-year-old Jermaine Ridgely was driving a 2003 Infiniti northbound when he hit a 2010 Nissan Altima that was attempting to make a left turn into a parking lot.
"I thought I was gonna lose my son that night," said Shanea Ketter, Trenton's mother.
She tells WUSA9 they'd had a fun day, getting pizza with his brother and that she and her son were on their way home from getting Slurpee's, in honor of 7/11's Slurpee Day. She explained that as they were about to pull into the parking lot of their apartment complex, another driver slammed into them.
"I heard the fastness of the car coming towards me. I see white lights and a white car. He hit us and I couldn't believe it," she said.
She says she was in shock.
"As I'm realizing we were in an accident, I was like oh my God, Trenton!" remembered Ketter.
She told WUSA9 she jumped out of the car and began pulling on the back car door.
"The car door wouldn't open, so I had to get him out through the front. As I pulled him out he wasn't talking. I just laid my head on his chest to hear his heartbeat, it was still there," she said.
Luckily, an ambulance was right behind them. According to police, the Fairfax County Fire Department witnessed the crash and immediately ran over to help.
"I was screaming his name before I pulled him out of the car. I didn't realize how bad we got hit until the ambulance took him away. He got into the truck and then I looked at my car and was like woah you really hit me," said Ketter.
She rushed to the hospital, fearing the worst. Doctors told her it didn't look good.
"He dislocated his head from his neck, and he chipped something in his pelvic bone, and then he broke his femur bone," she says.
Telling WUSA9, "Everybody was saying it's a miracle that he's still here".
She says her son had to undergo surgery.
"I didn't think he was gonna make it," she said.
Luckily, he pulled through, but the bad news was far from over.
"Doctors were saying he's never gonna walk again, he's never gonna be able to move again. He won't be able to move his neck again. He's gonna be disabled for the rest of his life," said Ketter.
She tells WUSA9 that her son is resilient and is already talking and smiling. "He's only 5, he's so brave just taking everything and learning this new life that we have to call normal," said Ketter.
She says the past few weeks have been brutal. She has two other children, a 7-year-old and a 7-month-old. She told WUSA9 it's been incredibly tough, but she knows she has to stay strong for her kids. At the same time, she says she' has no idea what she's going to do. Her car was totaled in the crash and the medical bills are piling up.
Her family has created a GoFundMe Page to help pay for Trenton's medical bills and other expenses.
"Clothing and food and stuff, transportation as well. We are kind of currently experiencing homelessness. So if there are any programs that can help me and my three kids. I am a single mom so if there's any groups that can help me," she says.
She tells WUSA9 the apartment where she had been living isn't suitable for Trenton's situation. She says he's supposed to be discharged from the hospital in October, but will be in a wheelchair and need a hospital bed, along with other medical equipment.
"I've always been on top of my game when it came to my children. I worked, I made sure they had everything they needed. Recently having a baby took a chunk out. I wasn't working. I had health problems during my pregnancy, so it was hard on me," says Ketter.
She's also created an Amazon Wishlist and is hoping the community will help them get some of the things they need.
As for the other driver, police say he's been charged, but Ketter says she hopes he understands the magnitude of what he's done, specifically to her young child.
"I just hope you know he gets justice for this. This sucks. He's innocent. He's only 5. You just took all of his innocence away just childhood all that. This is not going to be a regular 5-year-old living a regular 5-year-old life," says Ketter.