A 14 year old Surrey boy has made a dramatic recovery after being run over as a toddler. Louie Wyatt, first made headlines after he was knocked down outside his home, but is now beating the odds on the football pitch.
His mum Libbie Weguelin can remember the incident like it was yesterday. She said: “He was involved in serious RTA, he was run over twice.
“This resulted in him having to be airlifted to St George’s hospital where his injuries were bruised lungs, torn bowel, dislocated neck and a broken femur. We were there for two weeks in intensive care and then he had to stay about six months to learn to walk again.
“After that Louie was shorter so he was walking a little bit unevenly. A sport specialist said never expect Louis to be involved in any contact sports.”
Even when he was released from hospital, Louie continued to need medical attention. Libbie said: “In the last year or so he has had two double knee surgeries in the space of 18 months to try and lengthen him. Thankfully those operations worked.”
Recently, Louie has become interested in football. His mum explained: “ I don’t know, but something just switched and Louie started watching football. He never used to watch it, because I think he didn’t want to get excited as he wouldn’t be able to play.
“His team became Chelsea, and he’s all excited, and he knows all the match stats and then he said I think I’m ready to play football.
“I was a bit scared obviously so we looked at little training camps just to learn skills first. Then we applied to a couple of clubs, but unfortunately some clubs just want you to be the best and weren’t ready to grow Louie.
“We stumbled upon Swans which my cousin’s little boy plays for and she introduced me to the manager Vini. She said straight away we want Louie to be here, but unfortunately because he was older, they don’t have his year group.
“She said I think I could apply to the FA on medical grounds, and he could play a year below to give him time to learn the sport safely and comfortably so she filled out lots of paperwork.”
Louie has thrived at Swans, and the squad has rallied around to support him. On Thursday (August 21) Louie was invited to attend a training session the affiliated semi professional team, Egham Town FC, where he had the opportunity to meet 1st team manager Jordan Berry and the players, getting a real sense of the senior team environment.
Jordan said: “ Louie’s story and his journey is incredible. He has inspired me just by meeting him and learning about his journey. Egham Swans, his family and himself deserve huge recognition and credit as we live in a world in football now where under 6s are in professional football academies. Parents are pushing them on social media to get signed when they are just babies.
“The core of football in my opinion is about the life skills it teaches us. Louie shows all of these life skills in abundance. Resilience, determination, joy, sacrifice, friendship.
“He has a huge passion for football, he scored a goal in training with us and his face lit up in pure joy. Thank you Louie for choosing Egham, choosing football and for inspiring us all.”
The following evening Louie joined his fellow Egham Swans teammates as a mascot for the FA Trophy match. Libbie said: “He was able to walk out with a captain, and then at halftime they were able to do little drills to demonstrate what they can do. At the end of the game Egham football club presented Louie with a signed shirt which was really lovely.
“His sisters and I are very proud of him. He’s done so well, he never complained with any operations, he never minded about anything.
“Now it’s not about that anymore it’s not about the past now, it’s about Louie fulfilling his dreams at last and it’s quite emotional for me. Every time we see him out there it means a little bit more to us because we’re very lucky that he’s out there really.”
