One Hot Mama’s cook fights to recover from broken neck after Hilton Head crash

Island Packet (Hilton Head, SC)

March 26--An early morning wreck on Hilton Head Island on St. Patrick's Day brought a local cook's life as he knew it to an immediate halt as he recovers from a broken neck and leg.

Mario Ramirez, a 22-year-old Hilton Head Island man, was driving north on Palmetto Bay Road around 3:30 a.m. when his Kia went off the road to the left and hit a tree, South Carolina Highway Patrol spokesman Lance Cpl. Matt Southern said.

It was believed that he was driving too fast for the conditions, the trooper said. There was no information to indicate Ramirez was driving under the influence of anything.

After hitting the tree, Ramirez's car rolled back into the road and was hit by another car, which was heading in the same direction on Palmetto Bay Road, Southern said.

That second driver was a 40-year-old Hilton Head Island man who was ultimately charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, online Beaufort County Detention Center and court records show. He was released from jail the same morning on personal recognizance.

Ramirez's mom, Ruqayyah "Iris" Ar-Raheem, said her son was on his way home from work that morning that rocked their world. He is a cook at One Hot Mama's on Greenwood Drive, just around the corner from the crash.

She said she didn't have the details of the crash and was focusing instead on taking care of him now that he's back home.

"I was less worried about the details and more worried about his pain," Ar-Raheem said. After spending about six days at the Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Ramirez was sent home with some pain medication. His mom has been using some holistic methods, too, including CBD and lavender oil, she said.

"He's a great kid, easygoing," she said. "His life is altered."

He has a metal halo, that including screws into his head, attached to a vest-like contraption that will keep him from turning his head while his neck bones heal, his mother described. He's in a good deal of pain, but he's already making some progress.

"He's going to have that brace on for almost 12 weeks," Ar-Raheem said. "... "He can feel the pressure in his head (from the halo)."

With help, he's able to take some steps inside the house. His mom will be staying home to give him the 24/7 care he'll need until he recovers.

Ramirez is without health insurance for the time, but his mom has been trying to enroll him in Medicaid, she said. In the meantime, A family friend set up a GoFundMe account for the family, to help with the hospital expenses and to help make up for the work both Ramirez and his mom will miss while he's healing. In the first four days, 17 people donated to raise $610 and the page had been shared 142 times.

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