Family of Liam O'Toole speak after Hunter teen glassed in Dudley on New Year's Eve

Hearing their friend had allegedly been seriously assaulted minutes after they had parted ways in the early hours of New Year's Day, a few rushed to meet Liam's ambulance.

He'd been raced to hospital in a critical condition and induced coma with severe lacerations to his head.

His parents Michelle and Kieron O'Toole said their son had rarely been alone since then.

A group of about 20 of his mates, many who he'd met during his one year at Whitebridge High, three years at Hunter Sports High or four years with the Edgeworth Eagles, as well as their parents, filled the waiting room of the intensive care unit where he spent three days and held vigil.

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They took turns, two at a time, to visit his bedside.

"It was like a revolving door," Mrs O'Toole said.

"I'm certain that love and support [saved him]. We were saying to them 'Stay positive guys, nothing negative, he can hear you'.

"They were going in and talking and making jokes and he squeezed a couple of their hands and was making little movements."

The same group lined the hallway when Liam, 16, was transferred to the ward at lunchtime on January 3, holding up their fingers to spell out 4L [for Liam] and presenting him with a plush bear they named Ben, which played a recording of their voices.

"They're just the most beautiful kids, they're only 16 and 17," Mrs O'Toole said.

"This kid, he didn't deserve it. No-one has any beef with Liam. He's everyone's mate. He didn't deserve this."

Every morning Mrs O'Toole sends a text message to the group she has dubbed "the crew" with an update on Liam's progress.

That's when the replies from the teens start to flow, asking when they can visit.

Two have gotten 4L tattoos.

Several signed the helmet Liam has to wear when out of bed.

On Thursday one brought him a pair of Crocs, another asked if he could bring seafood for the family and a third helped sort his socks for washing.

Mrs O'Toole has taped a handwritten note to his door, which asks visitors who arrive when he is resting to text her to check when to come back.

'Thank you for loving our boy too', it reads.

The O'Tooles are under no illusions about just how close they came to losing their son - or how extraordinary his recovery has been, which they attribute to his medical team.

They were celebrating the start of the new year when they received a phone call from one of Liam's mates, distraught, saying their son had been hurt and was being treated by paramedics. A police officer told them to go to the hospital.

"I rang one of his mates about quarter past 12 and said to him 'Mate, on a scale of one to 10 how bad is it?'" Mr O'Toole said.

"He was crying and he said 'Mate it's a 10'."

The couple arrived at the hospital with Mrs O'Toole's mum, a retired nurse.

"The paramedic said 'Mate he's in a really really bad way'," Mr O'Toole said.

"We were hysterical. I asked 'Is he going to live? Will he make it?' and he said 'I don't know'."

Mrs O'Toole's mum said they should arrange for Liam's younger sister, 13, to come to the hospital.

"We were thinking we were probably going to say goodbye to him," Mr O'Toole said.

"She asked 'Is Liam going to die?' and we said 'No, he'll be right'.

"It was gut wrenching. The two scenarios in my head were he wasn't going to make it or he'd be permanently disabled for the rest of his life. What we've got is nothing short of a miracle.

"These guys have saved his life."

The O'Tooles later found out that one of the paramedics sent to the scene had called the Westpac Rescue Helicopter's critical care team. The team attended by road and were able to put Liam into an induced coma, which limited the amount of time his brain was without oxygen.

"That's why he's walking and talking and has got no neurological damage at all, it's a miracle, without a doubt," Mrs O'Toole said. "Every person we've spoken to here has said they can't believe it, they've never seen anything like it in 30 years of nursing, the recovery this kid has made in this time. That's due to that initial response."

The critical care doctor also called ahead to the hospital to arrange for a CT scan and inform the neurological team.

Liam underwent surgery for about 90 minutes to remove the right part of his skull, which relieved pressure on his swollen brain, and stopped the bleeding. He had 52 staples in his head.

He then went into a second operation of about five hours to remove as much glass as possible from his left eye. Doctors chose to leave a shard measuring 15mm x 5mm x 2.5mm.

"The eye surgeon said when he first looked at it he thought 'He's going to lose this eye' and have to have a glass eye or something," Mr O'Toole said.

"He made the decision to just clean it, save it and stabilise it and leave the big piece of glass in there, because the prognosis in his mind was it's better off leaving it there and getting Sydney surgeons to look at it."

Liam was taken to ICU around 8.30am. Around 20 of his mates were in the waiting room when visiting hours started at 10am and stayed until 6pm, bringing the family food and supplies.

"By the time it was our turn again we went in and the nurse grabbed us and said 'Don't panic but we've had to restrain his hands and tie them to the side of the bed because he was starting to pull [at his respirator] - this is such a good thing because his motor skills are working'."

Liam had a second CT scan at 5pm and staff advised the O'Tooles to go home and rest. They got a call from an ICU nurse at 10pm.

"She said 'You might want to pop up because your boy has just woken up and he wants to have a chat with you," Mr O'Toole said.

"We jumped in the car and 10 minutes later we walk in and he's sitting up in ICU and he says 'Can I still go to Byron Bay?' because he was supposed to go to Byron Bay with his friends on January 3.

"Bashed, battered and bruised but breathing [on his own], talking. He's an absolute warrior. He said that night when he woke up 'I'm determined not to die. I thought I was going to die but I'm not going to die.'"

Liam was transferred to the ward on January 3 and spent the mornings of the next week with an occupational therapist, physiotherapist and in daily consultations with the ophthalmology team.

He would rest and then spend the afternoons with visiting mates. He has been cleared for post traumatic amnesia but has some problems with short term memory.

Mrs O'Toole has not left the hospital since January 3, except for one meal at the Blackbutt Hotel.

"We are forever indebted [to the staff]," Mr O'Toole said.

"It's amazing. These guys don't get enough recognition for what they do.

"Plus the way the whole thing was coordinated on the night... if [the critical care team] hadn't been able to go the paramedics would have done the best they could, but his brain would have been without oxygen until he arrived here and then the prolonged effects would have been a lot worse than what they are.

"Seeing it all play out, as a community we are so lucky to have this facility and the people who work here... we have got the best of the best in this hospital.

"If you are in a bad way you are in the best place possible."

The couple are so appreciative they plan to start to volunteer their time at the hospital.

"Every spare minute we'll be up here doing what we can," Mrs O'Toole said.

Liam went to Sydney Eye Hospital for a consultation on January 9 and had surgery on January 10 to extract the remaining shard of glass, which the O'Tooles were told was the largest foreign object ever removed at the facility.

He returned to John Hunter Hospital on January 11.

"He was a bit nervous about it and he wanted to go in under a general [anaesthetic] but because of the brain injury they did it under a local," Mrs O'Toole said.

"He was awake for an hour and a half while they were in his eye.

"They were having a chat about soccer, the surgeon was asking who he played for, what position does he play, having a bit of banter over which English Premier League teams they follow. The surgeon said to him 'I've got to save your eye mate so you can watch my team beat yours'.

"He gave us his card and said 'Call me 24/7, I want to be on Team Liam'."

Liam's friends stayed at the family's home for three days, feeding their dog, buying groceries, cleaning the pool, doing the dishes and taking out the rubbish.

The O'Tooles said their son was known for his sweet nature and sense of humour and his positive attitude in the wake of his injuries had astounded them.

"Everywhere he goes he has an impact on people," Mrs O'Toole said.

"The Nursing Unit Manager was saying he's the most determined, positive kid... he's got an aura around him of kindness and strength but softness. He's a peaceful kid who is softly spoken but is cheeky.

"He's the most loved kid and is cracking jokes and conscious of everyone else's feelings too - he's unbelievable.

"He's here for a reason... we couldn't be more proud of him."

Mr O'Toole accompanied Liam to Sydney Eye Hospital.

"He opened up and said 'This has changed my life, I'm a lot more grateful now, things can change so quickly and I can't imagine what it must have been like for you and Mum to get that phone call'," he said.

"There really hasn't been too much 'Why me?', I would have expected a lot more. He's like 'There's no point worrying about it, it is what it is'.

"That surprised me, just how accepting he is of the situation he is in. That might change down the track, he might get angry, but for now he's saying 'It is what it is, I've just got to get better'. Everything has been focused forwards, not backwards."

The O'Tooles said the alleged assault occurred when Liam was walking with a group of friends the 200 metres from a party with parental supervision to stay at another friend's house, where a parent was waiting.

NSW Police said in a statement at the time that emergency services were called about 12.10am on January 1 to Ocean Street, Dudley, following reports of an assault.

Police said Lake Macquarie officers attended and were told a boy had allegedly been struck to the head with a glass bottle and was suffering serious lacerations.

Police established a crime scene and arrested two boys, aged 17 and 16, nearby and took them to Belmont Police Station.

Another 17 year old boy was arrested at the station a short time later. All three were charged with reckless grievous bodily harm in company, and reckless wounding in company, and were refused bail to appear in Parramatta Children's Court on January 1, where they were granted conditional bail.

Court records show that one of the teenagers was already on bail for serious charges at the time of the alleged attack - one count each of aggravated break and enter of a dwelling and stealing, as well as vehicle theft.

He was granted bail for those charges in August. He faced children's court in Newcastle on January 13 and his bail was continued.

He will face court again on February 13. The other two will face court on January 17.

The O'Tooles said this didn't make sense.

"The whole system is broken," Mrs O'Toole said.

"Something has to change. What will it take for things to change? This can't keep happening.

"If there are alleged repeat offenders out there... how are they allowed out again? Why? Is it that there is no room to put these kids?

"There's got to be a line. One charge, [they'll] give you a chance, not 10 strikes and you're out... where are the consequences?"

Mr O'Toole said two of the teenagers were almost 18.

"If they were 18 and were charged with that they'd be in jail. What's the difference? Yet the judge puts them back on the street... it's a waste of everyone's resources."

Liam faces a long road ahead.

His friends have started a Go Fund Me campaign that has raised more than $20,000, which the O'Tooles plan to use for Liam's medical expenses and trauma counselling for their son and his friends.

At the time of publication Liam was expected to undergo surgery either yesterday evening or next Monday to have the missing part of his skull reattached.

He is considering getting a tattoo of the words 'No bone', which hospital staff wrote on a bandage and stuck on the right side of his pillow.

Liam will have another consultation with Sydney Eye Hospital next Thursday afternoon and is likely to require a corneal transplant in about three months.

"They've told us it won't be 100 per cent, it will never be back the way it was, but they're hopeful to save some, he'll have some vision," Mr O'Toole said.

Liam has had to postpone the carpentry trial apprenticeship he planned to start on January 9. But he could be home as early as next week.

The O'Tooles said their door has always been open to their children's friends. "I'm sure they'll be at our house every day and we're fine with that," Mr O'Toole said. "They've blown us away and are now part of our family forever."

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