https://www.kwqc.com/2025/05/02/teen-hunting-accident-saves-leg-with-self-made-tourniquet/
05/01/2025
A Port Byron teen nearly lost his leg and almost his life in a hunting accident, but now is back on his feet.
Oct. 9, 2023, began as a regular hunting trip for then-15-year-old Liam Mathis but ended with him fighting for his life.
“I was moving the gun across my upper body, like around, and it hit a tree and went off, and got shot in the upper thigh,” Liam said.
His leg was heavily bleeding.
Knowing he had to act fast, he jumped out of the tree stand and tied a tourniquet using his jeans and a stick.
“I looked down and stood up, and I saw blood pouring out of my pant leg. All I was just worried about is getting the blood to stop and be able to, at least, see my dad or talk to my mom – last time, if I was going to pass away, but I didn’t.”
Liam Mathis
“I looked down and stood up, and I saw blood pouring out of my pant leg,” Liam said. “All I was just worried about is getting the blood to stop and be able to, at least, see my dad or talk to my mom – last time, if I was going to pass away, but I didn’t.”
His dad, Jed, was in the dark until Liam alerted him that something was wrong by getting in front of the trail camera that would send photos to his dad’s phone.
“I knew something was wrong. Then I wasn’t sure of the extent of it,” Jed said. “Came running back here, and that’s when I saw him lying on the ground … with his leg kind of just pretty much flayed wide open with a bullet wound.”
Liam’s condition was so severe that he was airlifted twice, first to Peoria and then to St. Louis.
His parents said he had blown out his entire thigh, leaving a vascular doctor working on the arteries and nerves and vessels.
“It’s pretty, pretty crazy, what they did and that he one came out of the first surgery with a leg, because we weren’t sure if he was going to have a leg when he came out, or, you know, be alive,” said Liam’s mom, Sue.
But Liam is a fighter, fighting for not just for his life, but for his future.
His dad says he is amazed by his son’s will to survive and keep his composure.
“Having that little bit of know-how, what to do and how to do it, you know, saved his life for sure,” Jed said.
Through rehab at Hammond-Henry Hospital in Geneseo, Liam learned to walk again.
His physical therapist, Marc Peirce, said he came to therapy every day in a wheelchair to start, and slowly they were able to get off the mat and eventually stand up.
“He knew what to do somehow, and he was smart enough to do it. I’m grateful that he’s here, because some people aren’t that lucky.”
Sue Mathis, mom
“By the time he was discharged, he was walking at that point. He had a small lift in his shoe. He had a slight little bit of a limp,” Peirce said.
Now he does not have a lift in his shoe anymore.
“I’m able to do stuff with my cousin and friends again without being in my bed and sitting there for weeks on end, unable to move,” Liam said.
His parents said they are grateful for the outcome of such a horrible situation.
“He has nerve pain and nerve damage, and he can’t run like most, but he has a leg, and he’s alive,” Sue said. “He knew what to do somehow, and he was smart enough to do it. I’m grateful that he’s here, because some people aren’t that lucky.”
Liam just got his driver’s license, and is planning to join the welding program at United Township High School next year.