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Matthew Cobley II

On August 12th, 2022, at approximately 10:01am, Matthew was on his bicycle traveling East on Clark Ave through the intersection at Harkness in Redondo Beach, California. A box truck traveling south on Harkness had stopped in the intersection, to which Matthew proceeded to go behind and around the truck. As Matthew emerged from behind the truck, another vehicle traveling north on Harkness, struck Matthew on his bike. The stopped trucked prevented both Matthew and the driver of the vehicle that hit him from seeing each other. The driver is not at fault for the incident. Matthew was struck, hitting the hood of the car as well as the windshield before being thrown through the air, head first into a cement block retaining wall at the north east corner of Clark and Harkness, before Matthew’s body came to rest on the sidewalk. A witness saw the entire incident and called 911. Upon arrival of the paramedics, Matthew was found unconscious, but by God’s grace and love, still breathing. Matthew was then transferred to the nearest hospital, where he underwent a CT scan to determine the extent of the damage. It was determined that Matthew suffered a fractured skull on his right side along with multiple subdural hematomas to both sides of his brain. The left side of Matthew’s head was swelling so much that he had to undergo a craniectomy, which is when surgeons remove a part of the skull to reduce swelling. Matthew was then closely monitored for the next 5 days, where on the evening of the 5th day, Matthew’s ICP(intracranial pressure) had increased to the point of near death. Doctors then determined that Matthew needed to undergo a second craniectomy to remove the right side of his skull. After the second craniectomy, Matthew’s eyes were fixed and dilated, and doctors told me that there was no coming back from this accident. Matthew did not give up; after several weeks, and celebrating his milestone 18th birthday on life support, he was able to be weened off of pain medication. Matthew was unable to breathe on his own, so he was equipped with a tracheotomy, and at the same time, a feeding tube was placed to ensure nutrition. Matthew then suffered a massive infection in his throat as a result of the tracheotomy that almost killed him. He was given the highest dose of antibiotics possible. After two months in the PICU(pediatric intensive care unit), Matthew was relocated to a subacute facility in North Hollywood. After two weeks in the facility, Matthew’s head swelled up, and he was sent to a hospital in Glendale for observation for a whole week before being sent back to the facility in North Hollywood. After another week, Matthew was then moved back to the original hospital in the Redondo Beach area to have his skull replaced in two cranioplasty surgeries. Around two weeks after this surgery, Matthew was sent to a subacute facility in Pomona. Matthew stayed at this facility for one week before being sent by ambulance to Pomona Valley Hospital due to a dangerously high fever. It was then determined that Matthew had C-Diff, and pneumonia, as well as a blood clot in his arm. Matthew lost a drastic amount of weight and suffered from intense neuro storming episodes for two months at the Pomona Valley ICU. Matthew fought through these ailments and even began breathing on his own. An opportunity for Matthew to be transferred to a subacute facility in Loma Linda happened the day he started breathing on his own. Six month after the move to the facility in Loma Linda, it was determined that his skull was deteriorating and needed to be replaced. Matthew had surgery at LLUMC to replace both sides of his skull with titanium mesh; this was Matthew’s fifth head surgery in a one year period. A month and a half later, Matthew’s tracheotomy tube was removed and the hole in his neck closed up over the following days. Matthew was then moved from the subacute facility in Loma Linda, to the long term care facility on the same campus. On August 28th, 2025, Matthew was being transported by a school bus back to the facility from school, when his wheelchair tipped over and fell on its side inside of the bus as a result of the chair not being strapped down. Paramedics were called and determined he was not injured. Upon arrival to the facility, it was found that Matthew had a baseball sized dent in his titanium mesh on his right side of his skull and was sent via emergency vehicle to LLUMC. It was determined that Matthew had suffered a dented in mesh cortical contusion and a possible hemorrhage, and Matthew spent Aug. 29th, 2025, the day of his milestone 21st birthday, in the hospital. Two weeks later, on September 10th, 2025, Matthew’s right femur bone snapped during a routine diaper change. It was determined that the fall in the bus weakened his femur bone severely. Matthew required a titanium rod implant and two screws to repair the broken femur, one of the most painful bones to break. Matthew has remained at the same long term care facility in Loma Linda for almost the last three years as of 9/27/2026. Matthew is a fighter and his fight is not over. I thank God every day for giving my son the chance to continue to fight.