Huntley boy, 10, seriously injured in boat crash in Canada; family thanks community for support

Brayden Quiros is back at home and his parents are thanking the community – including their son’s hockey team – for their support following a boat crash that left the 10-year-old Huntley boy severely injured in another country.

“An amazing lady at my son’s hockey team was able to connect me to Advocate and their team ... and able to get him to Advocate Children’s Hospital” in Park Ridge, his mother, Brittany Quiros, said a week after the crash.

Brayden was on a fishing trip in Ontario, Canada, with his dad, Connor Quiros, and step-grandfather. They’d driven up the day before, and it was their first full day on Wabigoon Lake, Brittany Quiros said.

The three were in a rented boat crossing the lake when it hit an unmarked underwater boulder.

“My little guy went flying out of the boat and they think he hit the propeller, giving him multiple lacerations,” his mother said.

Most days out on the water, they are lucky to see anyone else, but another boat happened to be close by.

“By the grace of God ... a man and his wife were coming by and they were able to flag them down,” Quiros said.

With their boat barely moving, all three transferred to the rescue boat, Quiros said, and headed back to shore about 10 minutes away.

Connor Quiros was able to get a cellphone signal and call 911. Police and ambulance waited at the docks for them to pull back in with the injured boy.

With the air ambulance service out on another call, they had to make a choice about where to take Brayden for surgery. The local hospital “is so remote, they had to call the surgeon and anesthesiologist to come in” to perform the surgery, she said.

If any injuries can be lucky, Brayden’s were. He has no broken bones and the blades didn’t hit any arteries or nerves.

“It went through muscle,” leaving him with lacerations on his legs, hips and arms, Quiros said. “Anywhere else it could have been far worse.”

Once Brayden’s dad called her with the news, Quiros got in the car for the 12-hour drive to Canada. She picked up Connor’s mother at the Duluth. Minnesota, airport, after she found a flight to meet her there.

Back in Illinois, friends from the Yellowjacket and Stingers hockey teams started a GoFundMe to help the Quiros family. Brayden’s friends on the team started sending him videos and photos from home to keep his spirits up. The family is till figuring out how to pay for Brayden’s care.

“We had a large bill but they were kind enough ... we were able to pay for some of it,” Quiros said. “We will have to pay the rest when we can.”

With Brayden stabilized, the family made the drive to Duluth. There, nurses from Advocate Children’s Hospital met them to fly back to the Chicago area with the family. “We felt much better having the nurse there. They were amazing with him,” she said.

Brayden’s prognosis is good. “He is young and super athletic. Those things work in his favor,” Quiros said. “Wound care and scar minimization as he grows – those are the main concerns."

It was hard for them to accept the help offered, even from their hockey team friends.

“There are so many people who are so much worse off than us and could use help,” she said. Friends convinced her to take it because it is what she’d do for others, Quiros said. “We are lucky to have the people in life that we do and the hockey community ... it sets aside any other hockey club around here.”

They should know soon whether Brayden will be back in school in a few weeks. He’s up and walking now, with the help of a walker to get around.

What might be tougher for him is the fact that he is missing a hockey tournament in Minnesota. “The realization is kicking in about the things that he can’t do” during recovery, Quinos said.