‘He is smiling but can’t speak or walk’: Slow recovery for toddler in hit-and-run

The mother of a little boy who was critically injured in a hit-and-run incident in Cork has said that the family are "praying for a miracle".

Zac Higgins was struck by a car on the road outside his house in Mahon, Cork last month. The two-year-old sustained a Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) whereby he suffered impact trauma on the brain. He is currently rehabilitating in Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin.

"He is doing well considering where he was last week," his mum Aisling Sexton told the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork's RedFM. "He wasn't even holding his head up last week but he is sitting up in his bed this week. "He can't speak or walk or anything like that yet. "It is lots of rehab, really. No one knows what is going to happen in the future. Because of the nature of that injury, it is a waiting game. "Zac will tell us what he can and cannot do. We are now hoping and praying for a miracle."

Each step in his recovery is a milestone, she continued.

"He still has a feeding tube but we have started giving him little yogurts, things like that. "He is smiling, laughing - he knew his brother and sister when they came up to see him. He definitely knows people. We think that little memories are coming back. "All we can do is hope - it is going to be a long road but it is better to have a long road than no road at all."

Zac was hit by a passing car after he followed a ball out of his garden on to the road of his estate in March. The vehicle did not stop after the collision and fled the scene, according to Gardaí. Pedestrians rushed to the boy's aid and emergency services were on the scene within minutes.