Schoolboy sunk 'the lowest a human can reach' after being hit by car

It was "unlikely" 14-year-old Will Blissett was going to make it through the night after a horrific car accident left him with injuries which were "likely to be life ending". However, in spite of all the odds being against him, he is now embarking on a trek of the Great Wall of China to give back to the Liverpool hospital which saved his life.

It was March 30, 2018 and the schoolboy had been airlifted from the Isle of Man to Alder Hey Children's Hospital. Medics eventually and "miraculously" saved his life, but his trauma had only just begun.

Will had been hit by a car which he says was "travelling at high speed" back on his home island and, due to having sustained "very serious injuries", he was rushed from a local hospital to Liverpool. Speaking about the incident almost seven years later, the now 21-year-old psychology student told the ECHO: “I was rushed to Alder Hey but even the consultants there thought it wasn't promising. It was unlikely I was going to make it through the night. It was petrifying for the people who knew me.

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"It really wasn't looking good but, thanks to the absolutely exceptional treatment I received at Alder Hey, both in a medically induced coma, and once awake and rehabilitating, as well as my unwavering determination to regain some level of normality, I'm now a 21 year old university student who is able to walk, talk, breathe and function relatively normally on his own."

After over three months in hospital, Will was discharged on July 11, 2018. He added: "I know that doesn't sound anywhere near as long as someone with those sorts of injuries should be in hospital for, but that was considered miraculous - that I'd recovered to the level I had and as quick as I had.

“By the time I left, I was only just able to walk. I had to be careful and could only do so much walking, I was limited in my strength and my family were pretty much waiting on me hand and foot."

However, it wasn't just Will's physical health that had been shaken by his near-death experience, as his mental state began to deteriorate. He continued: “What happened to me had a mind-bending effect on me, mentally.

"Because of the severe brain trauma I suffered, my brain blocked out any recollection of the event. So when I woke up from the coma, I wasn’t really aware of what happened and just thought I was waking up from a deep sleep or a nap.

"As my physical health started to improve, my mental health began to decline because I started to realise that I wasn’t - and probably never will be - what I was before the accident. My mental health reached the lowest that the mental health of a human can reach before action is taken by the individual.

“Regretfully, I reached points when I didn’t want to wake up and it was really traumatising to be in such a low place. However, because of the care I’d received and the fact that my family had been at my bedside throughout, I couldn’t do that to myself and put them through any more, so I kept pushing and tried to make the best out of a horrible situation.

"Thankfully, through having that mentality and wanting to prove to myself - and everyone else - that I can get through this, I did get through it."

Will said of his treatment at Alder Hey: “The care that I received was unbelievable and I can’t sing their praises enough." In September, he will travel to China for a 35km trek to raise money for the children's hospital.

Will said: “Being a third-year psychology student, one of my modules was work placement and I secured a placement at Alder Hey because of my connections to it. One day, I was in the lift at the hospital, going down to get some lunch. I saw a poster on the wall of the lift about a Great Wall of China trek in September, which is an opportunity to raise money.

“I went to the charity office, asked them a little bit about it, rang my mum and said: ‘Mum, I’m going to China in September. I’m taking on this challenge and I’m going to do it.’ From that point on, I was set on it and quickly had to think of ideas to raise money.

"In the last month or so, it’s become a reality that I am going to commit every spare minute to this cause and I’m going to raise as much money as I humanly can, because this cause saved my life and saves thousands more every year.

“It’s a nine day trip and I believe we are trekking for five or six of those days. It’s a set route which isn’t usually walked by tourists, so a lot of it is beaten down terrain and not just a case of walking down a straight road. It’s 35km altogether but, on one of the days, we’re walking up the Stairway to Heaven."

The "Stairway to Heaven" is a 999-step climb to the top of Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, China's Hunan province. The mountain is also known as the "Heaven's Gate" and is famous for its views and unique formation, including Tianmen Cave, the world's highest naturally formed arch.

Will added: “To get to where I am now from where I was, it’s only been facilitated because Alder Hey are absolutely outstanding and they deserve every penny I can raise. I’m eternally indebted to them.

“My story was a miracle and there’s the possibility for countless more if we can keep this hospital functioning to the level that it is - that’s why I’m doing this walk."

Will has set up a JustGiving page in order to fundraise for Alder Hey. You can find it by clicking here. You can also follow his Facebook page, which posts updates about his journey, by clicking here. His Instagram is here.