JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Vito Johnson was supposed to spend his birthday celebrating with his family and friends. Instead, he spent that day of celebration unconscious, receiving life-saving brain surgery.
Now, two and a half weeks later, the 11-year-old is finally home.
Vito's father Anthony Johnson picked him up from the hospital.
"He was just looking out the window, taking everything in," said Vito's father Anthony Johnson. "It was a good feeling today."
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.
Later, Vito was rushed to the hospital with injuries that his family thought could have taken his life.
"At first, they were told it was a contusion, and they were going to stitch him up and send him home," Johnson recounted.
"Things went a little worse later that night, and then we was (sic) told that he was bleeding on both sides of his brain, and it's like time just stopped. We were stuck froze, in a panic state."
He had to have emergency brain surgery on his 11th birthday.
But that wasn't the end for Vito. Perhaps it was by that strength that Vito began to make a remarkable recovery.
He woke up from his medically induced coma and started walking.
Less than two weeks later, he was released from the hospital.
Vito's strength and courage, coupled with a newfound community of support, has inspired his family to make a plea to other drivers.
"It's a life you're basically leaving in limbo when you hit someone and run," said Johnson. "Have the decency to stop and man up. "