JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — Vito Johnson was supposed to spend his 11th birthday celebrating with his family and friends. Instead, he spent that day of celebration unconscious receiving life-saving brain surgery.
On Feb. 11, Vito was riding his bike near his Eastside home when he was hit by a car. The driver never stopped, leaving the boy alone with a fractured skull and spine.
Police have released no information on the hit-and-run crash.
Meanwhile, Vito was rushed to the hospital with injuries that his family thought could have taken his life.
"The first initial sight, it crushed me," Vito's father Anthony Johnson said. "I would have broke, but I got the strength through him and [his mother] during this whole time. He never gave up, so I'm never giving up."
Perhaps it was by that strength that Vito began to make a remarkable recovery. He woke up from his medically induced coma and is now communicating.
It is welcome news to a loving father who has been holding onto hope and his faith for more than a week.
"I knew God was going to pull him through," Johnson said. "I just knew it would be a hundred percent."
Vito was recently transferred out of the hospital to a rehab facility in Orlando, where he will possibly undergo a long road to recovery. Yet, Vito's strength and courage, coupled with a newfound community of support, has inspired his family.
"It warms our hearts, me and my wife. We're just happy that he's progressing at a face pace," Johnson said. "We're moving in the right direction. To see him talk, to see him interacting with people on Instagram and Facebook, all the teachers and supporters that have been going to his room, it just warms our heart."
That community of supporters gathered together Saturday morning for a march celebrating Vito's incredible strength with the motto #VitoStrong.
Scores of people, young and old, turned out for the march. Some knew Vito. Others were inspired by the young man's miraculous recovery.
Some wore t-shirt's with Vito's image, some held banners and signs, but the message was the same: #VitoStrong. During the march, organizers handed out whistles, calling on people to let out a sound to cheer on Vito's recovery.
Johnson called his son on facetime, allowing the people to see and hear with their own eyes and ears what true strength looks like. Among those who did get to speak briefly with Vito was First Coast News Sports Anchor Chris Porter.
When asked how he felt about the march, Vito replied in a very clear voice, "It's good."
Under the warm Northeast Florida sun, it was the people's actions that shined the brightest. Johnson said what he witnessed Saturday, and throughout the aftermath of the crash, has changed how he viewed his city.
"I thought we were a lost city. When this happened, people called [and] texted. People have been sending donations. People have been praying," Johnson said. "It's put a joy in me to see the city come out and do everything like they have been doing so far."
As Vito recovers, his father still hopes for justice to be served to the person who almost took his son's life. He pleaded for anyone who knows anything about what happened that Friday anything to come forward.
"Don't be scared to come forward. It's a child. It could be your child, it could be your neighbor's child, but it's a child," Johnson said. "My son didn't deserve it, just be left there. Come forward, please."
While the matter of the hit-and-run crime remains unsettled, Anthony Johnson admitted that this experience has taught him an important lesson he will hold on to for the rest of his life.
"Vito Strong," he said. "That's the motto we're going to go by forever."
