PHOENIX — Steve Walton was leaving the grocery store with his 2-year-old great-great-nephew, Jayden Garcia, when suddenly, a driver barreled through a red light near 19th and Glendale avenues, hitting the boy in his stroller. The driver, 21-year-old Devorah Ross, left the scene, leaving Jayden unconscious.
But now, just weeks later, his family is sharing Jayden's remarkable recovery.
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“All I could do is chase after him,” Walton shakes his head in disbelief thinking back to Feb. 20.
"I was yelling at the car to stop. They never did stop. They just kept going,” says Walton. “They dragged the stroller another hundred yards down the road, but he was laying in the road where he got knocked out.”
The driver, Ross, was later arrested. The focus then turned squarely to little Jayden’s recovery.
For days, he was hooked up to tubes and machines. His family knew it would be a long road ahead.
“That was the part I was scared about,” says mother, Tyliah Green. “His birthday was coming up and I thought I lost him."
Just shy of turning three, Jayden did the unthinkable while recovering at home.
“He kept saying, ‘I did it, momma. I did it!’,” says Green. “He started walking to me and I just started crying because I didn't know what to do. He was really walking."
These small, but mighty footsteps are one major milestone.
Green says, “He's still a little, you know, wobbly and stuff but he's doing really good. His progress is really good."
Jayden's family tells ABC15 that despite the injuries, doctors are saying he's expected to live a normal life and make a full recovery.
“Now he's walking on his own,” says Walton. “Getting up on his own. Gave me great hope for him."
A miracle was made for this resilient Valley boy.