'Daddy, am I going to die?' Student in Paramus bus crash feels like he's 'in a bad dream'

Paramus fifth-grader Brendan O'Callaghan was in a serious school bus accident last Thursday.

He doesn't remember it.

The 11-year-old's teacher and one of his classmates died from injuries they sustained in the school bus accident on its way to Waterloo Village — this year's fifth-grade field trip.

He doesn't know it yet.

Brendan also doesn't know that a number of his classmates, like him, remain in the hospital with serious injuries, his father, Arnie O'Callaghan, said Sunday.

"His first words to me were, 'Daddy, am I going to die?' " his father said. He then asked if he missed the field trip and wanted to know where he was.

"Just the fact that he was talking to me was a sigh of relief," O'Callaghan said.

Brendan suffered a fractured temple bone, a broken collarbone, a punctured right lung and a bruised orbital bone, his father said. He remains at Morristown Medical Center, where he was taken from the scene of the accident on Route 80 in Mount Olive on Thursday morning.

They keep sedating him because he's in a lot of pain, O'Callaghan said.

"He asks me how to escape from this dream. He grabs my ear, touches my face and asks if this is real," the boy's father said.

"He feels like he's in a bad dream," his father said Sunday. "My son has no recollection — he asks if he missed the trip to Waterloo Village."

The accident on Route 80

Paramus East Brook Middle School fifth-graders were headed to Waterloo Village on Thursday when one of the three yellow school buses collided with a dump truck on Route 80 in Mount Olive.

Fifth-grade teacher Jennifer Williamson Kennedy and 10-year-old Miranda Vargas died from injuries sustained in the accident.

While some of the students, teachers and adult chaperones have been released from area hospitals, it's still unknown how many more are still undergoing treatment.

Brendan, his father said, doesn't know that the teacher with whom he formed a bond over a dog died in the crash.

She was very close to him, O'Callaghan said: "She was a real loving person."

Kennedy's dog died at the start of the school year, he said. "We had just got a dog, and he asked her if he could send pictures to her. She just started crying." A relationship was forged.

Father rushing to his son's side

O'Callaghan has seen his share of accidents as a Dumont police officer. But it's different when it's a child and he's your son, he said.

"When it's your own kid or you're responding to a call that involves children, it hits home. You take on the pain and suffering," he said.

O'Callaghan was driving on Route 4 in Hackensack on Thursday when a friend called.

"I can hear my wife hysterical in the background," he said. He said the friend told him there had been an accident involving a Paramus school bus. His wife, Jaclyn, didn't know if Brendan was on the bus, and she was in no condition to drive. The friend told him to meet his wife at their home.

The accident: Student, teacher killed in Paramus school bus crash on Route 80 in Mount Olive

Remembering Jennifer Marie Williamson: Popular Paramus teacher who died in crash was devoted to students: 'That was her life.'

Remembering Miranda Vargas: 'Beautiful, gentle soul' identified as 10-year-old victim in NJ bus crash

From the Rangers: Behind NY Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist's touching gesture for Paramus bus crash victim

On his way home, O'Callaghan saw an unmarked police vehicle with its emergency lights activated heading toward the parkway. He followed with his hazard lights on. It led him to Route 287, where both fell in line with a series of other emergency services vehicles.

They led him to Morristown Medical Center.

"I knew I was where I needed to be," O'Callaghan said.

Hospital personnel stopped him and directed him to a waiting area with other parents. They asked him for a description and photos of his son, which he provided.

"I was helpless at that point. I was pacing back and forth and started seeing some familiar faces of other officers who had kids at the school, other parents. I started panicking," O'Callaghan said.

As he sat awaiting word of his son, a law enforcement friend called him with news that a little girl from the bus had died, along with a teacher. He said it was a tragedy, but provided him with the news that his son was alive. He just didn't know how badly he was hurt.

"They asked me if my wife was on her way," he said of hospital employees. "I asked if they had my son. They said they still don't know."

About 15 to 20 minutes later, his son was identified, and they took O'Callaghan in to see him. Brendan touched his father's face to make sure it wasn't a dream.

Brendan and the NY Rangers

The 11-year-old is a fun-loving, bright kid, his father said. In the last two years he's been really into sports.

They started to go to Rangers alumni games, said O'Callaghan, a Bronx native and a second-generation Rangers fan.

Brendan likes to read, especially about old-time ice hockey.

He started skating and playing ice hockey at 9 years old. One day his friend, who's a goalie, got hurt and the coach put him in.

What's next?

Brendan could be released from the hospital to an inpatient rehabilitation facility in a few days to a week, his father said. Then the rebuilding begins.

Just moving is painful to Brendan, as is apparent in a recent video O'Callaghan posted on his Facebook page.

The video captures what the family said is Brendan's first smile since the accident.

O'Callaghan recorded his son receiving a gift sent from his favorite New York Rangers player, goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Once the wrapping paper around the obvious gift was removed, the family and Brendan saw that it was a hockey stick signed by Lundqvist. That's when the fifth-grader smiled, following it soon with a cry of pain.

Brendan's hockey coach, Kevin Moran from Paramus Hockey, and goalie coach Dan Meyers orchestrated the gift presentation, along with O'Callaghan's father, Brendan's grandfather.

Brendan has received lots of well wishes.

"I want the public to know that the outreach — even from people who don't know the families involved — has been tremendous. They've become part of the family by reaching out to us ... offering to send us blankets ..." he said. "For all the EMS who responded, you did an amazing job."

Three others from the accident remain in critical condition at Morristown Medical Center, he said. One family told him they were waiting to see if the swelling in their child's brain will go down.

"They're still fighting, and one is his friend," he said, not offering more.

"It shouldn't take a traumatic incident for people to unite and love every day what is around you," O'Callaghan said.