RICHMOND, Va. — A spring break cruise turned into a nightmare for a group of Virginia Commonwealth University students when a violent crash left a 21-year-old with a life-altering injury.
Last week, 21-year-old Ethan Overby and a friend were hit by a bus while riding a rented a moped around the city of Cozumel, Mexico. The crash happened just two days before the group was scheduled to set sail back to the United States.
Overby had his leg amputated from the collision and is still in the hospital recovering.
"In the middle of the street, unfortunately, was Ethan, and his leg was not very close to his body," Tyler Seeley said.
Seeley and Dhanya Patel, two of Overby's friends on the trip, said strangers rushed to help. Doctors even donated blood, doing everything they could to save Overby's life.
"I truly, every day, I wake up, I'm just grateful to still have my best friend with me," Patel said.
Due to the severity of his condition, Overby was not stable enough to travel on a commercial flight back to the U.S. His family quickly arranged an emergency medical charter flight from Mexico to Miami so he could get care closer to home.
Once he is stable enough in Miami, he will be transported by ambulance to his hometown of Yorktown, Virginia, to continue treatment.
"He's an absolute warrior," Seeley said.
Overby is a supply chain management major and the vice president of Sigma Chi, a fraternity he helped found at VCU. Patel and Seeley said Overby always thinks of others before himself.
"He came out of anesthesia, he's asking if we got back to the ship and if we're okay ... thinking about others before himself," Patel said.
A GoFundMe established for his medical costs has already raised thousands of dollars. Overby's friends say he is already looking forward to coming home and tackling his rehab head-on.
"He's made an impact on us, and it's shown in the support and the overflow of love and messages that we've received from everybody, not only from VCU, from other fraternities," Patel said.
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