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Nov 28, 2007 7:09 pm US/Eastern
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Freak Park Accident Leaves Boy Fighting To Recover
Giant Tree Limb Shatters Several Lives In An Instant
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A park is supposed to be a safe place to play, but for one teen it was anything but.
He was badly injured in a park and is now fighting to recover. His family is now fighting to get him the care he needs.
Sohaib Qureshi was a strapping, athletic boy, but today he's fighting to come back from a devastating brain injury, the result of a freak accident in a park that has shattered his devoted family.
"I don't know what he's going through … how much pain he has," Hussan Qureshi said. "Watching him like that is very hard."
It happened in August in Riverside Park. Sohaib was playing with his brother when suddenly a 24-foot foot limb cracked off a tree. It hit Sohaib in the head and fractured his skull.
Sohaib's mother was expecting him home in a half hour. Instead, she got a call from police.
"He just told me that your son got hurt," she said.
Sohaib was in coma, his frontal lobe damaged. He's endured 13 procedures on his brain. His family is shocked that something so awful could happen in a place where children are supposed to be free from harm.
"Parks (are) supposed to be very safe place for kid to play," father Waseem Qureshi said. "That's why I say don't play on the sidewalk, when you need to play."
His mother says Sohaib is a devoted son who, on the morning he left for the park, complained that her good-bye kiss wasn't quite good enough.
"And I just hold his face and I give it to him strong kiss he say, 'OK, I come back and see (in) you little bit,'" Hussan Qureshi said.
Sohaib emerged from the coma and is responding to physical therapy. He will be having years of rehab, but the family's attorney says they worry they won't be able to afford the quality long-term care he needs.
"They do not have the money to handle this. The doctors have told him that if he's not in a good place, it's gonna be tough for him," Mark Epstein said.
For now, their spirits are buoyed by Sohaib's progress. Sohaib and the family uplifted also by a visit from Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks, one of Sohaib's heroes.
And they say despite the long road ahead, there will be happy times again.
"Every day I'm hoping and I'm there with him and telling him don't worry, I'm here," Hussan Qureshi said. "We're gonna go home together."
Again, Sohaib's recovery will be lengthy and expensive, leaving his parents worried about medical bills.
A fund has been set up to help the family. If you are interested in making a donation, make checks payable to: CLC Pooled Trust 1 F/B/O Sohaib Qureshi
Mail checks to:
Law Offices of Pazer and Epstein
20 Vesey St.
Suite 700
New York, NY 10007
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