While school buses are the safest vehicle available to children on the way to and from school each day, only killing about six riders on board the bus during crashes and another dozen or so at school bus stops, many students are still severely injured and sometimes with life-altering consequences. The heartwarming case of Diego Lemos reminds us of this fact.
On April 30, the 12-year-old Denver boy tripped and was caught beneath the rear wheels of his school bus. His left leg was left mangled. It could have been much worse, obviously, but doctors said nerve damage would severely limit the use of his right leg. So the decision was left to Diego to amputate or not.
You see, Diego dreams of playing football, and doctors said that a prosthesis gave the boy the best chance of attaining the goal of running down the field.
“Diego’s at a perfect age to have to be challenged with these sorts of decisions and subsequent rehab because he’s most adaptive at this age,” Dr. John Schwappach told the Denver Post.
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The lower portion of Diego’s left leg was amputated at the shin on May 4. He’s a strong boy who seems to be dealing with his loss, or gain of a prosthesis rather, very well. Perhaps it would have been best if Diego had never had his accident to begin with, or, potentially, if the bus driver had been able to prevent the wheels from crushing the boy’s leg.
We will never know the answers to those questions.
But there is a lot that Diego learned and will learn about himself from this ordeal, one that he apparently is dealing with extremely well. And the same should go for pupil transporters.
One could also say that Diego is on the road to realizing his destiny in life, a road that offers all sorts of obstacles. School buses make these roads safer for children, yet it’s ironic that a school bus altered his life in such a dramatic way. While this accident actually seems to have made Diego stronger and closer to his family, it still serves as a sobering reminder that school buses can always be safer, and drivers can always be safer, too.
