A five-year-old boy has been left with severe burns after he was pulled from the wreckage of a fiery crash that killed his father and grandparents.
Nathaniel Rodriguez was traveling in a vehicle with his father, the man’s girlfriend and the grandparents when the car suddenly veered off road and hit a tree stump – causing it to catch fire in San Bernardino, California on December 15.
The boy was the sole survivor and had to be pulled from the wreckage by firefighters on that arrived at the scene.
The San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office has identified the victims as Edgar Rodriguez, 35, of Victorville; Ramiro Rodriguez, 60, of Victorville; Maria Benitez Ramos, 62, of Victorville; and Melinda Perez, 44, of Hesperia, according to the Victorville Daily Press.
The incident, which happened a day after the young boy’s birthday, left him with burns over 50 percent of his body.
He sustained the worst damage on his arms and doctors at UC Irvine Medical Center were forced to amputate both of them below the elbow.
‘You never think this can happen to you until it happens,’ Rodriguez’s mother, Adriana Shrem, told ABC7. ‘That was very heartbreaking, to know my child was awake while he was pretty much burning, his whole face, his hands.’
He has also broken both of his legs in the crash and has had multiple surgeries already.
‘He needs a specialist for the head, the eyes, the lips, and his condition just remains the same: critical,’ Shrem told the outlet.
‘It’s day by day. Every day he comes back out of surgery, it’s a blessing. That’s all I could wish for.’
Rodriguez has also developed mucormycosis, a serious fungal infection, that requires aggressive surgical control to prevent it from spreading on his face, according to a GoFundMe page.
The child remains stable on a ventilator in a medically induced ‘coma’ however he is still ‘critically ill’.
On Christmas Day, the fundraiser organizer also revealed that it is likely the young child would also have to undergo a tracheostomy – which is a surgical process to put a tube into his trachea to keep him connected to the ventilator safely later this week.
Tom DeBellis, Battalion Chief of the Colton Fire Department, recalled pulling the boy out of the flames.
‘There was just, you know, crying type noises that we could hear that kind of alerted us that there was somebody still in the vehicle,’ he said.
‘Him being exposed to that much fire and heat and smoke, we wanted to get him right to the hospital before, you know, anything worse happens to him.’
The cause of the crash remains unknown.
As of now, the crowdfunding page has raised $66,558 out of its $75,000 goal.
‘(Don’t) take life for granted. Love those around you. If you have any animosity toward anyone… just be happy.
‘Life is too short, and you never know what can happen in the blink of an eye,’ the disheartened mother added.