GoFundMe Started To Help Family Of Teen Bicyclist Hurt In Crash

BABYLON, NY — The cousin of a 15-year-old who was struck by a car while riding his bicycle in Babylon last week started a GoFundMe page to help the teen, who suffered brain trauma after the incident.

On May 15, Jocelin Nunez Martinez was driving a 2011 Nissan Titan pickup truck eastbound on West Main Street, just west of Thompson Avenue, when her car struck the teen, who was riding a bicycle southbound across West Main Street, Suffolk police said.

The 21-year-old Bay Shore woman then fled the scene in the Nissan. First Precinct officers responded to the scene and apprehended Nunez Martinez a short time later at the corner of Fire Island Avenue and Lewis Circle in Babylon.

The teen was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip in critical condition.

On Sunday, the teen's cousin, Colleen Kidd, created the fundraising page to help the 15-year-old. According to the page, the teen required emergency surgery to place a monitor in his brain due to the trauma he suffered. He was later moved to the intensive care unit where he was intubated, connected to a ventilator, and placed in a medically induced coma. He was eventually able to wake up from the coma.

"We are so grateful that he is alive and here with us but he is far from out of the woods and has a long and difficult road ahead," Kidd wrote. "Due to the brain trauma and various other injuries, Jeremy will need continued round-the-clock care in the hospital and in-home care once he reaches the point of discharge from the hospital."

On Monday, Kidd told Patch her cousin was released from the hospital but stated that the teen will still require long-term physical therapy and follow-ups to deal with the extensive damage from the crash including neurological deficits.

According to the page, Kidd described her cousin as a "genuinely wonderful young man" as well as a "loving brother and son, an athlete, a dedicated student, and the kind of person who can light up a room just by being in it."

She created the fundraiser to help the family with the financial burden brought on by the crash. The goal of the page is to raise a total of $25,000.

In just one day, the GoFundMe has raised a total of $5,085.

"They have been through so much," the page reads. "The only thing that his mother, father, and twin sister should be worried about is loving and supporting [the teen] through this extremely difficult time, not the extensive cost of his care."

To learn more or to donate, visit the GoFundMe page here.