J.D. Acevedo
By TEREASA NIMS
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — The Moose Lodge 1911 will host a spaghetti dinner benefit for a hospitalized 14-year-old seriously injured in a car crash in Detroit.
The dinner for J.D. Acevedo will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday at 18931 Allen Rd. and open to the public.
Acevedo was in the backseat of his teenage cousin’s car on traveling on I-96 about 4 p.m. Aug. 15 when, the cousin told police, the car hit a pothole and he lost control of the vehicle and it flipped three times.
Acevedo was rushed via ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Michigan, where he has been in ICU since arriving
“He finally started breathing on his own,” said Jen Speer of Melvindale, who is the mother of Acevedo’s best friend, Brandon.
Despite breathing on his own, doctors say the teen is unresponsive. Doctors report the teen has a head injury, possible brain damage and torn ligaments in his neck.
“We are hoping and praying he will wake up,” Speer said. “We are waiting for him to wake up. He is making progress, he looks more like himself than he has in the past month.”
Acevedo had lived in Melvindale since birth and moved to Redford a year ago. Speer said he kept begging his mother to move back to Melvindale. She finally agreed and Acevedo was to start ninth grade at Melvindale High School and play for the football team. He and his mother were one week away from moving at the time of the accident.
Speer said the teen’s mother hasn’t left the hospital and medical bills have already started arriving.
Speer and her son, also are having a difficult time.
“I love him as my own child,” Speer said of Acevedo.
Brandon and Acevedo have been inseparable since third grade and spent a lot of time at the Speer house.
“They always say they are brothers from another mother,” Speer said.
One day when Brandon went into Acevedo’s hospital room and was talking to him, Acevedo moved his shoulders and started breathing faster, Speer recalled.
For more information ot to make a donation can call Speer at 313-318-8345.
(Tereasa Nims can be reached at [email protected])