A 16-year-old Posen youth who was hit by a freight train in Blue Island last week is listed in serious but stable condition after having his leg amputated.
Jose Nunez also had a portion of his knee reconstructed during surgery Wednesday at Olympia Fields Osteopathic Medical Center. The procedure was done in anticipation of a future prosthesis, said hospital spokeswoman Camille Root.
Nunez has been unconscious since surgery, which took place within 12 hours of the accident, Root said. But a state of unconsciousness could be beneficial during his stage of recuperation, she said, “because it is giving him time to heal.”
Doctors are monitoring Nunez, who also suffered head injuries in the accident at 135th Street and Western Avenue. Witnesses and police said Nunez had been on his bicycle waiting at the crossing for some 20 minutes when an eastbound train started to clear the tracks. Nunez went around a lowered safety gate and apparently did not see a westbound train that hit his bicycle broadside.