Manitoba family holds on to hope for son, 17, in coma after serious crash on Perimeter Highway [Video]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-perimeter-crash-teen-coma-1.6958699

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details and images.

It’s a very different start to the school year than the Rayner family was hoping for. Instead of watching their 17-year-old son start his first day of university, the family is sitting by the teen’s hospital bed, waiting for him to come out of a coma.

“I just want my boy to open his eyes and just [say] an ‘I love you, Mom.’ That’s all I want,” said Carrie Rayner.

In the early afternoon of Aug. 27, her son Devon Rayner was involved in a serious collision that left him in a medically induced coma.

RCMP said Devon was driving southbound on Winnipeg’s Perimeter Highway when he made a left-hand turn at the Highway 15 junction. His vehicle was struck by a northbound semi.

“We heard the first set of sirens [from our house]… and about 15 minutes after that the RCMP came flying in, honking their horn to get us outside. It was horrible,” Carrie said.

All police could tell them at the time was the driver had non-life-threatening injuries, she said