A FAMOUS teen content creator is lucky to be alive after being left in a coma following an accident.
Nidal Wonder, who has over 2.2 million followers on YouTube where he shares funny videos with his brother, was hit by a car while riding an electric scooter on March 5.
The 13-year-old, who is now recovering at home after suffering bleeding on the brain among a host of other serious injuries, was struck around 3 pm in Clovis, California.
Nidal was in a coma for several days, fighting for his life, and in his first interview since the accident told CBS affiliate, CBS47 Fresno, he is “very lucky to be in a wheelchair and not in the hospital right now”.
“They like put me asleep for like five days, I was in a coma for five days basically,” Nidal, whose real full name is Nidal Ajib, told the broadcaster.
Nidal’s mother, Aedryca Ajib, recalled to the outlet how she got a call from her other son saying Wonder had been hit, and “I started to pray”.
By the time she got to the scene, Nidal was already loaded in the ambulance. A week later, just how lucky the teen was to have escaped with his life is abundantly clear.
Nidal suffered bleeding and swelling to his brain, leaving him with staples in his head. He has a fractured collarbone, bruised ribs, and a broken leg among other injuries, CBS47 noted.
Ajib said the last week had been incredibly testing, but she put her faith in God to decide his fate.
“I let it all go in God’s hands and said he’s yours. I hope you let us keep him but he’s yours,” she told the broadcaster.
Nidal doesn’t remember the crash, or what led up to it, and like a true content creator, already has his mind back on making video.
Nidal’s family posted pictures showing the extent of his injuries while he was in hospital and he revealed on Instagram that he was recovering and would be “back to normal in no time”.
His family also released a statement, saying: “We are all exhausted now but we will be able to tell the full story as the healing process continues,” the statement read.
“We know a lot of you have a lot of questions and we can answer at an appropriate time. The good news is that Nidal is off the breathing tubes and as soon as he woke up (after being sedated for about 4 days), he was cracking jokes and being funny.
“He has a long recover road but the good news is that he’s awake and the healing is kickstarted.”
According to the Clovis Police Department, electric scooter riders who are minors must wear a helmet, and must not travel faster than 15 mph. They are also forbidden from riding on roads with a speed limit faster than 25mph and require a driver’s license of permit.
The department wants scooter rider to use bike lanes.
Inside Nidal Wonder's rise to fame
Nidal has over 2.2 million followers on his personal YouTube channel
Nidal Wonder is lucky to be alive after being hit by a car while riding a scooter in Clovis, California, on March 5. But who is the teenager that’s a huge hit on social media?
- Real name: Nidal Ajb
- Age: 13
- Siblings: brothers, Jamel (Juju) and Neshan, and sister, Jehan
- Claim to fame: performing flips on social media
- Following: 2.2m subscribers on his personal YouTube, plus 1.5m on a separate account he shares with his brother, along with 800k followers on Instagram.
Nidal Wonder, whose real name is Nidal Ajib, rose to fame along with his older brother Jamel – known as Juju – on social media.
The pair began posting flip videos on the YouTube channel, Juju & Nidal. Their first video, ‘learning how to Cody-flip’ has 48,000 views and was posted five years ago. The most recent has 1m.
Nidal is a self-taught flipper, and singer, who became an online star after becoming interested in gymnastics at a young age. Along with Juju, he then started performing flips in videos – with the pair trying to outdo each other – before they branched out to create more varied, and funny, content.
Nidal later started a personal YouTube account – Nidal Wonder– which goes beyond flipping and takes in his interests, hobbies, and family adventures, according to his bio which says he joined the channel in July 2011.
The first post on the account, from two years ago, shows him, then aged seven, “surprising street performers” with a backflip. It has been viewed 163k times. His latest video shows him trying out “weird” Amazon products.