FAIRMONT — Kevin Chen, an 18-year-old from Fairmont, has spent the last six months at home recovering after being hit by a car last September.

Chen had just started his freshman year at Minnesota State-Mankato when he was struck in a hit-and-run accident in Mankato.

After the accident, Chen was airlifted to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester. His left leg was severely damaged. About 3 inches of bone is missing from his left tibia, right in the middle. He has had seven surgeries in the last six months as doctors are trying to re-grow the bone.

Chen has a fixtator on the lower part of his leg. It is a device that provides rigid immobilization through external skeletal fixation by means of rods attached to pins that are placed in or through the bone.

“I can feel the pins when I move my leg around and it’s kind of weird and uncomfortable but I’m used to it,” he said.

Chen also has a long scar on his back where doctors removed some muscle to put into his shin, and he has a skin graft on his left thigh where skin was removed and used to cover the new muscle in his shin. Several weeks ago, he had a bone graft done.

Chen takes antibiotics in order to avoid infection, and a few different vitamins, but hasn’t been taking any pain pills.

All of Chen’s appointments have taken place at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, and while Chen said his team of doctors has been good at explaining what’s happening, he still takes it upon himself to do some research of his own in order to better understand.

“I just read about it and learn about it. If I need to ask more descriptive questions, they tell me about it,” he said.

Chen has been making a point to document his recovery through photos. He has photos from the days following the accident and even has a video of when he first stood up, which was 66 days after the accident. He remembers it was a painful but exciting moment.

He recently began walking a little with the help of a walker, but has been cautious because he doesn’t want anything to happen to his leg that would delay his recovery.

“They want me to put some pressure on it because it helps with the bone growth,” Chen said.

He admitted that a while ago he was worried that the accident and everything that’s happened since would change his personality and make him a more cautious person, but he said he has always been an optimistic person.

He explained that the area on his lower left leg where he has new skin will never grow hair again, nor will that area sweat because the glands are gone.

Chen is looking at having the fixtator on for another five to six months, but he’s learned that he needs to stay patient and trust that his body will heal in time. He plans to start taking some online classes this summer and looks forward to getting back into the gym.

“Once the bone’s connected and I get to take this (fixator) off, I’ll start walking on it and doing physical therapy,” Chen said, adding, “It’s going to pass eventually. A year from now everything will be different.”