A 28-year-old man is fighting to recover after a hit-and-run crash that nearly killed him last week in Putnam County.
Eric Orengo says he was riding his moped home from work Thursday along State Road 207 near the St. Johns County line when a driver slammed into him from behind—then took off.
“I felt so cold, so black, so dark. I couldn’t feel nothing. I couldn’t even move my head,” Orengo said of the moments lying on the ground, waiting for rescue.
But he wasn’t alone.
Orengo credits a good Samaritan with helping to keep him alive by keeping him talking for nearly 40 minutes.
“If it wasn’t for her, I swear I would have never been alive, and I call her an angel sent from above,” Orengo said, sharing his gratitude. “I thought I wasn’t gonna make it. I thought I was gonna die right there ... with a bunch of strangers and not my family.”
Orengo was airlifted to a trauma center, where he remains hospitalized after suffering a spinal injury, a severe scalp laceration that required reattachment, a broken right leg, a fractured left knee, a fractured rib, and a neck fracture.
“I can’t feel my legs. My legs are two broken legs. I got a spine fracture, I got a head trauma. I can’t move my head. If I move my head just one slight bit by myself, I can be paralyzed for the rest of my life,” Orengo said.
He faces a long road to recovery, potentially years.
“You made my whole life flash in my eyes in a blink of a second. I’m 28 years old, and I might be paralyzed for the rest of my life because of your decision,” Orengo said to the driver who hit him and left him for dead. “I almost died. I’m not just an animal on the side of the road where I was caught crossing the road. I was going home, and you hit me.”
Now, Orengo says, that home -- and his family -- will never be the same.
“It literally flipped my whole life upside down. I was a great husband. I was a great supporter. I did everything by the book. And now I can’t even feed myself,” Orengo said.
Orengo’s family is asking anyone with information to come forward.
“Please, turn yourself in because you’re just making it worse for yourself. You’re making it easier for people to just do a hit and run and be OK with it,” Orengo said in a message to the driver. “This was my life. I almost died.”
Orengo said he was wearing a helmet and had the proper lighting equipment and turn signals on his moped.
“We all got to get somewhere, but we all gotta take our time sometimes and actually take into consideration that there’s other people on the road, that is not all about speed,” Orengo said, encouraging other drivers to slow down and watch for motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles.
Orengo and his wife have three dogs that they love dearly, and it’s become difficult because she has been at the hospital helping with Orengo’s care, and the dogs have become anxious.
“We just ain’t got that extra help,” Jessenia Orengo said. “It’s hard to keep everything in balance.”
The Orengo family has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical bills and living expenses during his recovery.
The GoFundMe page explains that Eric was the sole source of income for the couple and likely won’t be able to return to work for at least a year.
Jessenia said helping Eric with his recovery means she can’t work yet either, and their medical bills are mounting.
“We are reaching out for help to support Eric and me through this incredibly tough time. Any donation, share, or kind word will make a difference and help us hold onto what Eric has worked so hard for,” Jessenia wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Thank you for your support and compassion.”