CARING: Marcello Prieto pictured with his family. Prieto lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, he now visits patients in the trauma unit, sharing his experience and offering encouragement.
August 7, 2025
A La Mirada man who lost his leg in a Thanksgiving weekend motorcycle crash is now back at the hospital that treated him—not as a patient, but as a volunteer helping others recover from trauma.
Marcello Prieto, 53, was riding home from a children’s toy drive at the Derby Room in Pomona on November 25, 2023, when the crash occurred. He had left the event early, but while traveling through Pomona, the vehicle in front of him braked suddenly. To avoid a collision, Prieto swerved, hit a curb, and was thrown into a fence. His motorcycle landed on his leg.
Prieto was rushed to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. He awoke in the hospital’s trauma intensive care unit, intubated and in pain. A nurse named Hailey informed him he had undergone a below-the-knee amputation. Days later, surgeons amputated further above the knee to allow for a prosthetic.
His family, unable to reach him after the event, tracked his smartwatch and eventually located him at the hospital. “Throughout my recovery and coming to terms with my new reality, I knew I was blessed to have my family,” Prieto said. “Life is a roller coaster. It’s hard to climb up that hill, and you need support to help lift you up.”
The injury capped off a difficult year for Prieto, who had lost his mother to cancer just months earlier. Still, he promised his children—Amanda, Marcello II, and Nathan—that he would never ride again. His daughter Amanda became his lead caregiver, organizing appointments and shielding him from stress in the early days of his recovery.
Prieto said the compassion he received from hospital staff inspired him to give back. In 2024, he joined Pomona Valley Hospital’s patient and family advisory committee. He now visits patients in the trauma unit, sharing his experience and offering encouragement.
“I go in open-minded, tell my story, and listen,” he said. “Even if the patient can’t talk, I connect with their families. Just being there shows they’re not alone.”
His first visit was to another motorcyclist recovering in the very same ICU room he’d been in. Although the patient was unresponsive, Prieto said he was able to speak with the man’s mother and offer comfort.
Now more than a year into recovery, Prieto works out five days a week to rebuild strength and maintain his mobility. “There are days I don’t want to go,” he said. “But I push forward. If you can’t take a full step, take a half step. If not a half, take a quarter. Just never go backward.”
He’s looking forward to key family milestones this year, including his youngest son’s high school graduation and his other son turning 21.
“I may have lost a limb,” he said, “but I have plenty of life left to live.”