It's a call no mother ever wants to receive.
"Her dad called me that she was in an accident and she was airlifted to the hospital,” Escondido mother Isabel Torres said.
It was May 23. Lily Irigoyen, 14, and a friend had taken a bus to Westfield North County to shop.
"I don't remember anything, the whole day, nothing from that accident," said Irigoyen.
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The two girls were crossing the crosswalk on Beethoven Drive when Irigoyen was struck by a car that, according to the Escondido Police Department, missed a stop sign.
Irigoyen's friend wasn’t hurt, but Irigoyen suffered major injuries.
"[A] broken leg, broken arm, fractured hip, punctured lung… and a brain injury," Torres said.
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Irigoyen spent the next three weeks in a coma, and then the next six months recovering at the hospital. It wasn’t until August that Irigoyen finally was able to come home.
"We’re getting there," said Torres. "With time I think she's going to get better and better."
Irigoyen is still recovering and suffers short-term memory loss as a result of her injuries. But she is a fighter and now that she’s fought her way out of the hospital, she’s on to her next mission.
"The doctor told her everything that happened and she mentioned that thanks to the person who assisted her in the accident with CPR, she always had air in her brain and for that main reason they saved her life," said Torres.
"I just felt, like happy, just the fact that someone had that kindness in their heart to help me was nice,” said Irigoyen.
Now her mission is to find the man who saved her life.
"I just want to say how grateful I am that they helped me and that I'm alive now because of them,” said Irigoyen.
