What should have been an ordinary day of play ended in unimaginable horror for Mateo Pacheco Elliot, a two-year-old whose life was forever altered in a matter of seconds. While laughing and playing alongside other children at a daycare, Mateo was critically injured in what authorities have described as a devastating and rare accident involving a lawnmower.

According to his family, Mateo was playing outdoors when he wandered too close to a riding lawnmower allegedly being operated by the owner of Rodriguez Daycare in Quincy. In an instant, the machine struck him. The impact severed his foot and left him with catastrophic injuries that no child should ever endure.

Emergency responders rushed Mateo to a local hospital before arranging an urgent air transfer to Seattle, where specialist surgeons fought to save his life. Doctors were forced to amputate what remained of his foot and perform extensive surgery to treat a severe abrasion stretching from his knee to his groin. Skin grafts were required to repair the damage, and even then, the road ahead remained uncertain.

For Mateo’s mother, the hours following the accident were a blur of terror and disbelief. In an emotional update shared online, she described racing toward her son, unsure if she would arrive in time to say goodbye.

“I went to see my son and I just burst into tears,” she wrote. “I was scared he was going to die. I asked the doctors if my son was alive and if he was going to live.”

The answer came with relief — and devastation.

“Yes, he’s alive,” she was told. “But his foot was amputated.”

She described driving at breakneck speed, her heart pounding as she repeated one thought over and over: get to my baby. When she finally arrived, hospital staff met her at the door and led her straight to Mateo’s bedside.

“They said, ‘Come with us please — your son needs you,’” she recalled. “I was freaking out, thinking my two-year-old was going to die on me.”

Mateo survived the initial trauma, but survival marked the beginning of a long, painful chapter. Weeks passed as he remained hospitalized, undergoing repeated procedures and wound care. Twice a week, he was required to stop eating and drinking at midnight so doctors could take him back into the operating room for wound changes — a process that left him weak, exhausted, and unable to heal normally.

As if the physical injuries were not enough, Mateo’s body began to struggle under the strain. He lost interest in food, suffered persistent vomiting, and eventually developed a stomach ulcer that caused internal bleeding. His mother described the horror of seeing him vomit black blood, only then discovering the extent of the internal damage.

“It has been nothing but hell here,” she wrote. “If it isn’t one thing with my baby boy, it’s something else. I feel like my son is just getting sicker and sicker by the day.”

To make matters worse, Mateo contracted Covid while in hospital, further weakening his already fragile body. Each new complication deepened his mother’s fear that the worst might still be ahead.

In an effort to help cover mounting medical costs and extended hospital stays, the family launched a GoFundMe campaign. Alongside pleas for support, they made the painful decision to share images of Mateo’s injuries — not for shock value, but to show the reality of what he is enduring and to document his slow, uncertain recovery.

Meanwhile, the incident has triggered official scrutiny. The Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families has reportedly suspended the daycare’s license pending a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident. Questions about safety, supervision, and accountability remain unanswered, leaving a community shaken and a family desperate for clarity.

For Mateo’s mother, however, the focus is not on blame — it is on survival.

Every day now revolves around pain management, wound care, and comforting a toddler who cannot understand why he hurts, why he cannot run, or why strangers keep taking him away for procedures. His childhood, once filled with carefree play, has been replaced by hospital rooms, IV lines, and whispered prayers.

Yet even in the darkness, moments of hope remain. Mateo is alive. He still reaches for his mother. He still fights.

His journey ahead will include rehabilitation, prosthetic care, and emotional healing that may take years. His family knows life will never return to what it was — but they are determined to help him build a future shaped not by tragedy alone, but by resilience, love, and strength.

Mateo Pacheco Elliot’s story is more than a heartbreaking accident. It is a reminder of how fragile childhood can be, how quickly ordinary moments can turn into lifelong consequences, and how families are forced to summon unimaginable courage when everything they love is placed at r isk.

As his mother continues to ask for prayers, one truth remains clear: Mateo’s fight is far from over — and the world is now watching, hoping that this little boy finds healing, justice, and a chance to reclaim the childhood that was stolen from him far too soon.