Costa Mesa Rallies Around Irish Tourist Badly Hurt After Being Hit By Elderly Driver
COSTA MESA (CBSLA) -- Phil Leavy planned to come to the U.S. for a quick visit.
But that all changed when he was hit by a car driven by an elderly female driver.
"Life is precious. You just don't know what's around the corner," he told KCAL9's Stacey Butler.
It's a life lesson the 31-year-old on a graduate visa from Ireland learned on a street corner near South Coast Plaza on February 1.
Leavy was walking back to the apartment where he was staying with a friend.
He was rushed into emergency surgery for a craniotomy, removal of part of his skull. Doctors did this to relieve pressure on his brain and to release fluids.
Leavy spent two weeks in a coma.
When he woke up, he had no where to go. Doctors forbade him from flying back to Kildare and from returning to his friend's apartment -- too many stairs.
Leavy said, "I lost my granny last year, and I prayed to her basically. I think she was looking down on me."
That is when he met retired Costa Mesa police officer and community activist Mary Spadoni.
"I've sort of addressed myself as his American grandmother," Spadoni says.
She knew of Leavy from a friend and decided to take him in.
"I would hope that if I were in Ireland and this happened to me, that someone in Ireland would do the same thing for me," Spadoni says.
Every day, Spadoni maps out their day with her rescue dog Zenny. The dog never leaves Leavy's side.
"I'm blessed, put it that way," he said. "I'd be lost if she wasn't around to help me. Absolutely lost."
Using a GoFundMe link, Spadoni has helped raise $17,880 [at this writing] for medication, treatments and second opinions not covered by his traveler's insurance. The driver had minimal insurance and he is scheduled for more operations including a second brain surgery.
"I'm just grateful, I don't know how I'm gonna thank people ever," Leavy says. "It puzzles me. I don't know how I'm going to do it."
Spadoni is already missing her unofficial Irish grandson.
"When he gets on that plane, I'll miss him and Zenny will miss him, but I'll be so happy for him," Spadoni says.
For more information about Leavy, or his GoFundMe account, click here.
