CINCINNATI -- December was a month of new beginnings for Wember Grande. He was in his second week of school and had just started a job at Advance Auto Parts.
But now Grande, 24, will spend Christmas in a hospital as he recovers from serious injuries police say were caused by an impaired driver.
A car went off the road and struck a parked car Grande was working on at his new job Tuesday. Grande suffered serious injuries in the crash, and he still had some bleeding and swelling in his brain, a punctured lung, broken collarbone, nine broken ribs and fractures all along his arm Friday, his sister, Wendy Sedler, said. Doctors rebuilt his eyelid.
The head trauma Grande suffered has him confused. Doctors said he will have a hard time remembering for a while.
"He will wake up once in a while and he will be able to remember, and then the next minute he will go back to telling you from the beginning what he was doing," Sedler said.
While Grande remains in intensive care, the driver, 36-year-old Michael Felchner, remains behind bars in the Hamilton County Justice Center. Police said he "appeared intoxicated" at the scene of the crash and later admitted to using heroin.
Felchner faces charges two charges of aggravated vehicular assault.
"We are all angry," Sedler said. "We are angry that he was just trying to do his job. We are angry that he was finally a roll -- he was going back to school, he just started work -- and this happened.
"We are angry at the guy, but … it happened already, we can't do anything about it, and just pray for him and be there for him."
Grande's family will spend Christmas with him in the hospital. They also set up a Gofundme page to help cover the costs of medical bills and physical therapy.
"I just came back into town. We were really looking forward to this Christmas," Sedler said. "This is the first Christmas that we have been able to really get together and have a big meal since I have been gone."
