'My son was hit by a car and a brain injury changed his life - now he's raising money to help other children in hospital'

His mum, Rebekah Frost recounts the traumatic event: “I was cooking dinner when someone knocked on the door, and they said, ‘You have a young son, right? I’ve just found him lying in the road - I ran out with my daughter and saw him there.”

From there, Rebekah called the ambulance. “I remember looking at him in the ambulance and all I could see were his toes shaking. He looked so little.” When they arrived at the hospital, his odds were not good. “We were told he might not wake up and I was planning his funeral - no mother should ever have to go through that.”

Liam suffered a brain injury and a broken leg. Now 13, he lives with PTSD and ADHD, and is undergoing therapy. Rebekah says the trauma of the accident left lasting scars. “He went from being a daredevil - fearless and bubbly- to terrified of everything. He wouldn’t even go swimming, or leave the house - it completely stole his childhood.”

Liam has also struggled with frequent night terrors, seeing someone watching over his bed. Rebekah says that at some points she did not even recognise her own son, after he lost his passion for life and turned to food instead. He had no interest in leaving the house, and spent his time indulging in fizzy pop and video games instead.

Rebekah became desperate for change and when scrolling through TikTok late at night, she came across the account of Boxwave, a fitness programme based in Stratford-upon-Avon for children struggling with their weight, organised by two brothers who are also passionate about championing the mental health of young people.

Rebekah took Liam to his first session and said she had not seen him as passionate and excited for many years. “They had Liam dragging tyres and carrying water weights. He loved it, he came out beaming.” Since joining, Liam has lost over a stone and rediscovered his confidence. “He said to me, ‘Nobody’s going to defeat me anymore’ and that really was the turning point,” says Rebekah.

Liam now wants to give back by taking part in a 5K run today, May 29, at Weston Park in Sheffield. It is part of Boxwave’s eight cities in eight days charity run to raise money for children’s mental health and those with serious illness in hospital.

Rebekah says: “It’s near Sheffield Children’s Hospital and he wants the kids in there to be able to look out the window, or come out and see people running for them.”