On the night of January 10, Mae Banks received a distressing call from her 16-year-old son’s closest friend. Nathan’s friend was in a panic, shouting that Nathan had been hit. The teens had been spending time at their local Skyzone trampoline park in Hampton, Virginia.

Mae, aware that teenagers often engage in skirmishes at such venues, initially assumed Nathan’s friend was referring to a typical altercation. However, the situation was far graver than she thought.

“No, Nathan’s dead. He got hit by a car,” the friend clarified urgently.

Nathan and a few others had ventured from Skyzone to a nearby GameStop across the street to buy a birthday present—a video game—for one of their friends.

Tragically, while returning across the bustling Cunningham Drive to rejoin their group at Skyzone, Nathan was struck by a 2019 Audi Q7. The impact hurled him approximately 30 feet, and he landed harshly on the asphalt.

When crossing back over busy Cunningham Drive to return to Skyzone, Nathan was struck by a 2019 Audi Q7 and was thrown about 30 feet, his body landing hard on the asphalt.

‘I remember going to the GameStop with my friends and when we were leaving, we crossed the street,’ Nathan told the Daily Mail in an interview. ‘I made it almost across the street, and then I got hit, and then I woke up in the hospital.’ 

Mae and her husband, Major Banks, were in the car together at the time and immediately rushed over to the chaotic scene. 

On January 10, Nathan (pictured) was struck by a 2019 Audi Q7 while crossing Cunningham Drive in Hampton, Virginia. According to his mother, Mae Banks, paramedics were unable to locate a pulse for about 10 minutes

Nathan was moved into the back of an ambulance to be taken to the hospital

‘We get there and traffic’s already starting to pile up. Everybody’s trying to look and see what’s going on. So I parked a little ways away, jumped out of the car, ran up to [Nathan], and he was there. They were just starting to cut his clothes off because they did not have a pulse yet,’ Mae said. 

It took about 10 minutes for first responders to find a weak pulse in Nathan, Mae told the Daily Mail. 

As a group of police officers held her back from her son and told her she could not see him, Mae had what she described as a ‘nervous breakdown.’

‘I wasn’t even allowed to get back into the car with my husband,’ she said. ‘I had to be put in a follow ambulance because I was screaming and crying so much that they deemed me unsafe to ride in a regular vehicle. They put me into that ambulance before they even loaded Nathan up.’

Nathan told the Daily Mail he often thinks about how his friends and family are doing and hopes they can eventually overcome the trauma of witnessing the accident. 

At Riverside Regional Medical Center, doctors discovered Nathan had broken his back, his tailbone and his pelvis. He also had severely bruised lungs, a six-inch laceration on his head and a deep cut on his hand that resembled a stab wound, Mae said.

‘When he hit the concrete, a piece of like loose concrete, went into his hand kind of like a knife would,’ she said.

About an hour and a half after the collision, Mae said Nathan woke up in the hospital. The medical staff quickly put him back under with fentanyl and ketamine, she said.

Nathan spent three days in the hospital and has since been treated by multiple specialists, including a cardiologist, because doctors believe the force of the crash may have damaged his heart. 

Nathan had extensive injuries that doctors needed to treat right away, including severely bruised lungs, a six-inch laceration on his head and a deep cut on his hand that resembled a stab wound.

Nathan also broke his back, his tailbone and his pelvis, which will require regular physical therapy appointments. He has severely limited mobility but can walk with a walker

Mae Banks (pictured second from left) with her four children before the Nathan’s accident

The accident also left him with a traumatic brain injury that prevents him from remembering anything significant beyond the previous four hours.

Mae compared what Nathan is going through to the 2004 film ’50 First Dates,’ in which Adam Sandler tries to woo Drew Barrymore’s character, who is afflicted with short-term memory loss.

‘Her brain resets every single night. Well, his does that almost every four hours. So if I wake him up too early, he can have way too long of a day struggling to remember what’s happened and what he is doing,’ she said.

Mae is hoping to get answers about what precisely is causing his memory retention issues at an April 21 appointment with a neurologist. 

For the time being, Nathan has severely limited mobility and his doctors have told him that he needs to stay on bed rest. He can walk for short distances with a walker under close supervision, Mae said.

Just this week, the family got good news on his physical recovery from pediatric orthopedic surgeon Peter Moskal, who said Nathan could be able to jog within three to six months as long as he continues going to physical therapy three times a week.

‘Six months sounds like a lot, but if you just keep at it, time flies. I’m trying to get back to that point where I’m back to where I was,’ Nathan said.

The family was also told this week that Nathan won’t need metal plates, screws or rods in his back, something Mae called ‘absolutely great news’ since it means he’ll be able to heal naturally.

Nathan has physical therapy appointments three times a week with the goal of regaining his range of motion

Nathan is pictured with his siblings, his father (third from left) and other family members

Still, the prospect of spending the next six months at home and isolated from his peers – since he can’t go to school – has been daunting for Nathan. 

His mother and father try to get him out of the house as much as they can, but he said he is still struggling with being abruptly ripped from his normal routine.

‘It’s sad because I’m very social,’ he said. ‘So yeah, I haven’t been doing too good.’

Mae described Nathan as an active and athletic child, playing basketball, football and running track before the accident.

‘It’s mentally weighing on him that he can’t even walk outside just to get fresh air, or walk down the street,’ she said.

The accident came at a time when Mae was the sole provider for Nathan and her three other children. Her husband, who previously worked as a forklift driver, is currently a full-time student working toward a degree in cybersecurity.

‘We were just trying to get to a better place in our lives,’ she said. 

Mae was employed as a bartender before her restaurant allegedly told her not to return to work until her son was better. 

Mae started a GoFundMe to help pay for Nathan’s medical costs and the family’s every day expenses. Her husband is a full-time student, and she is not working as she takes care of Nathan

With no steady income, Mae and her husband are staring down a $29,000 bill for Nathan’s hospital stay. That’s on top of the costs they continue to incur for traveling to appointments and every day expenses like groceries.

So far, Mae has applied for unemployment and Medicaid coverage. She also started a GoFundMe that has raised just over $5,000.

The GoFundMe is necessary, she said, because of how the accident happened. Nathan was hit while outside a marked crosswalk – a crucial detail under Virginia law that insurers can use to get out of paying a settlement.

Because the state follows a strict contributory negligence standard, Nathan’s family may be barred from recovering any compensation if investigators or insurance adjusters determine Nathan was even slightly at fault – as little as 1 percent. Crossing a street outside the crosswalk could mean all the liability is thrust onto the pedestrian.

For that reason, Mae advised parents to tell their kids to always use the crosswalk. Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. have similar legal frameworks to Virginia.

‘I didn’t know about it before now,’ she said. ‘It’s something to just remind them of.’

She continued: ‘I have three other children who walk out of this house all the time. Every single day I’m like, “Hey, what do we need to do?” And they’re like, “Pay attention.” I’m like, “Please.”‘