'We are survivors': Family of Western P.E.I. teen struck by motorcycle speaks in court 

The family of a Western Prince Edward Island teenager who lost his leg after being hit by a motorcycle in 2020 had their chance to have their voices heard in court on Wednesday. 

It's been nearly three years since Ryan MacKinnon, then 15, was struck by a motorcycle while walking down the street in O'Leary.

Taylor Edward Cooke, 24, was found guilty of dangerous driving causing bodily harm at a trial last fall, and was in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Slemon Park for sentencing Wednesday, along with members of his family. 

MacKinnon was in the courtroom as well, along with several of his relatives. Many of them chose to join him in reading victim impact statements to tell the court how the incident changed their lives. 

In the teenager's statement, which a victim services worker read aloud to the court, he said he was walking down the street after a late workout at the gym on the night of Aug. 6, 2020. He had been preparing for upcoming hockey tryouts. 

That's when the motorcycle hit him. 

"I don't remember anything after that until I opened my eyes and my friend and his sister were looking over me in terror," the statement said. 

"Eventually I seen red lights in the distance… The screams from my friend and his sister — I will never forget those screams." 

MacKinnon's statement went on to say he doesn't remember much else before he woke up at the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre in Halifax, where his parents told him one of his legs had been amputated. 

He told them he needed only one leg, but that was before he understood the severity of his injuries and how difficult his recovery would be. MacKinnon, who now uses a prosthetic leg, said his experience has been painful and is far from over. 

"When I got home and started getting around more, I felt so out of place … people looked at me differently," the statement continued. 

MacKinnon said he suffers from flashbacks when he drives by the place where the collision happened, and is now triggered by the sound of motorcycles.

His mother Dianne MacKinnon said she experiences flashbacks too. She told the court that night is one she'll never be able to forget.