The family of a student left in a coma and disfigured on his birthday night out by a hit-and-run driver are making a desperate appeal to pay for major surgery.
Popular Steven Wanna, 20, was found by friends in the early hours of February 14, lying unconscious and left for dead in the middle of the road.
He was left in a coma and later woke up but has been left with a brain haemorrhage, fractured hip, skull eye socket, a broken left leg and a split face.
The popular business also suffered horrendous facial injuries and will be permanently disfigured following the incident on his 20th birthday.
But the family say some surgery to correct his face will be classed as cosmetic and would not be available free on the NHS – meaning the family will have to pay.
Friends Amber Webber, 20, and Katie Franklin have set up a fundraising campaign in order to pay the £30,000 reconstruction surgery to the brave lad’s face.
His mother Sandy Mar, 48, a mum-of-two, is currently having treatment for a brain tumour and has recently battled breast cancer.
She said: “I quickly came to be by his side and haven’t left it. He’s only 20 and this is no life for him. He has to move on and all I want is to give him a future.
“They were so worried he wasn’t going to make it that they just sewed him up and he needs the surgery to live his life.
“Steven is not going to be able to live his normal life with out the fundraising. We do not want revenge, we just want to know what happened.”
Friends of the victim, of Cowley, Oxford, say any extra money will go to a ground floor flat that Mr Wanna will need.
Steve is a ”happy-go-lucky lad”, a “peace keeper” and “loves being with his friends” mates from Steven’s college said.
After four months in a coma he is having to learn tasks such as the alphabet again because of a lost memory. He struggles to recognise people and even colours.
Steve was a Business Administration Student in Abingdon College. He was found by his friends lying unconscious in the middle of the A4074 in Oxford.
The incident is believed to have occurred following a night out when Steve was walking home from a night out with friends.
Six months on and no arrests have been made. Friend Amber has set up a funding page for him to have facial reconstruction surgery.
Amber said: “It broke my heart – he could not remember who I was.
“He was just left there in the road. When the paramedics came they thought at first that he was already dead.
“He keeps telling us ‘white car, black car’ and keeps saying ‘I was hit, I nearly died’.
He said he went to a different world.”
Miss Webber said: “They (the NHS) keep talking like they are not going to do it. It’s made us really step up.
“Steven is not going to be able to live his normal life with out the fundraising.
“We want him to live a happy life. Steven would do it for somebody else. I want to do everything I can for him. He is just a lovely person.”
Last night, Thames Valley Police spokeswoman Lucy Billen said: “We would welcome any further information from the public on this case.
“There have not been any arrests at this stage.”
To donate visit gofundme.com/hit-and-run-victims-facial-surgery
