"His life and our lives are forever changed:" Mom hopes son will pull through after fall at Bayshore

GLENDALE (WITI) -- It has been three days since a 21-year-old UW-Milwaukee student fell 20 feet over a railing at Bayshore Town Center. Dustin Strzelecki suffered a severe brain injury. He's in a coma at Froedtert Hospital. But Strzelecki's mother tells FOX6 News she's not giving up hope that her son will come back to her.

"His life and our lives are forever changed," Julia Strzelecki said.

It happened in just seconds. As the terrifying surveillance video from inside Bayshore Town Center shows, Dustin Strzelecki fell over a railing -- landing on the floor 20 feet below.

"Dustin is not a daredevil. He is not a daredevil. He is very level-headed -- and he decided to goof off, and he was going to try and slide down the railing, out of fun. As a mother, your hope for your children is that they are always safe and always secure and protected. And the reality is they will make decisions. And we have to just be there," Julia Strzelecki said.

Dustin Strzelecki's three older siblings, his mother, and family members and friends have been by his side at Froedtert Hospital since the incident late Monday, January 12th.

"There isn`t anyone that knows Dustin and that loves Dustin, that does not believe without a fraction of a doubt that he's going to recover from this," Julia Strzelecki said.

A broken pelvis and shattered spleen are among his most minor injuries, according to his doctor. The big concern is his brain.

"We have made some progress but not as much progress as we would obviously like to have made," Dr. John Wiegelt said.

His doctors continue to watch is progress and take comfort in every small victory.

"When I saw him early this morning his blood flow to the brain, the measurements we use had all improved," Dr. Wiegelt said.

Right now, watching and waiting is all they can do.

"I can tell you it`s a long recovery period. We are talking not weeks -- we are talking months," Dr. Wiegelt said.

"I can speak for just about anybody in our family that if we could trade places with him right now we would," Julia Strzelecki said.

Dustin Strzelecki's mother tells FOX6 News he was with co-workers the night he fell. She says alcohol was consumed, but she says there was no foul play. Rather, this was just a terrible accident.



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