SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City firefighter critically injured after a wrong-way crash earlier this month is out of the hospital.
John Maxwell, Andy Maxwell's father, said his son was discharged two days ago and is now recovering at his sister's house.
John says his son, who is a father of three children, was at his cabin in Duck Creek with his family for fall break.
"Andy and his family were basically going spend the winter down there in this cabin," John said. "So, the kids went down so that his kids and them could all have some time together before winter because they weren't going be able to see each other all winter."
Andy was heading north on I-15 on Oct. 17 when a Toyota Corolla traveling the wrong way struck his Dodge truck head-on. The 55-year-old driver of the Corolla was killed.
"It was about 5:00. It was pitch black dark and that's when the accident happened," John said.
In the car with Andy at the time were his 15-year-old niece, Lila Love, his 8-year-old niece, Gracie, and his 10-year-old nephew, Liam.
"Andy is facing a long recovery, so we're dealing with that. Gracie, his niece, is still in the hospital at Primary Children's. She's going to have an extensive recovery also," John said.
He says Lila is okay, having sustained minor injuries from the airbag.
John said Andy has had four surgeries so far. He sustained a variety of injuries in the crash, including three fractures in his back.
Liam was killed in the crash.
"We've known these kids their whole lives, and to know that we're going to have more family gatherings without Liam, it's just hard," John said. "Everybody was wearing seat belts, and that's what saved everybody but Liam... It was kind of wrong place, wrong time for him."
John told FOX 13 News on Wednesday that Andy will probably be in a wheelchair for three or four months and may need to learn how to walk again. He added that it may be a year before Andy can return to work.
"When the fire department found out what happened, they immediately stepped up," John said. "They've been helping out with all kinds of stuff. Andy's cabin had to be winterized — there were 14 firefighters that went down and helped us winterize the cabin."
Plenty of support came from the brotherhood Andy has formed in his time with the Salt Lake City Fire Department.
"I retired here after 31 years of public safety service, and Andy just completed 20 years of service," John said.
Now, John says both families are working together to get through this.
"We're all going get through it together. We're all relying on each other," he said.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Andy and his family, which can be found HERE.
Another GoFundMe was set up for the Love family HERE.
