Alexia Echevarria was one of the official housewives on Real Housewives of Miami‘s first season. Although she is returning for a second season, we won’t be seeing much of her. Alexia’s youngest son, Frankie Rosello, was involved in a horrific car accident last August in Miami which left him in critical condition. Alexia dropped everything to be with him and her gig with Real Housewives of Miami was put on hold.
It was a rainy weekend in Miami when Frankie, who was 13 at the time, and a friend from school were invovled in a collision. The driver lost control of the car and it spun into oncoming traffic. Frankie was taken to the ICU at Holtz Children’s Hospital where his situation was described as ‘really bad.’ He suffered from a head injury and multiple broken bones including a crushed pelvis. He underwent pelvic surgery the very next day.
Here are a series of tweets from Alexia soon after the accident:
All the while, his mother remained at his side. In addition to her Bravo gig, Alexia is also the editor of Venue Magazine. She immediately stepped down when news broke of Frankie’s accident. “It was a parent’s worst nightmare to get that phone call,” she told the press.
Frankie was later transported to Atlanta for his rehabilitation at The Shepherd Center. Here is a photo of him shared by Alexia with the tweet, “Outside enjoying Atlanta’s weather after a long 1st day of Rehab #Frankieisafighter #pray4Frankie XO”
As of February, Frankie was still participating in physical therapy five days a week as well as speech therapy. “He’s eating, he’s walking, he’s happy, he’s not on medication. The doctors are amazed,” Alexia told Miami Herald a few months ago. Here’s a photo of the hard-working Frankie in physical therapy from February 13:
The always-positive Alexia tweeted the photo along with the caption, “Frankie working hard in therapy! I’m so proud of you baby! #blessed #JacksonMemorialRehab”
The photo at the top of this post was taken July 13, 2012 when Frankie spent the day with his mom at the offices of Venue magazine. Damn he’s looking great! It’s wonderful to see all of his hard work paying off, and to see Alexia is able to get back to working at the magazine!
Because of the personal nature of the incident, Frankie’s situation will not be featured on season 2 of Real Housewives of Miami. However, Alexia will be seen on camera talking to her cast mates about her feelings. In the trailer, she’s even seen breaking down to co-star Marysol Patton.
To see more of Alexia, tune in to Real Housewives of Miami‘s second season when it premieres on Thursday, September 13th.
UPDATE – Alexia shared a lengthy update on Frankie’s recovery in her Bravo blog posted in September of 2013. Here are a couple excerpts:
Frankie didn’t say a word or even make a sound for 4 months, not even after he was out of his medically induced coma. You cannot imagine the pain. I used to sit and look at him and pretend and imagine that I was listening to him speak like before the accident, calling me “Mom! Mom!” And that day happened 4 months later December 14th. And that’s exactly what his first word was again, 15 years later, “Mom!”
Frankie is now attending school full day. He goes to a Catholic High School that has a Special Education Program and offers a small class setting and works at his pace. He takes his core subjects (Math, Reading/English, Social Studies, and Science) in the special class. He takes PE (it’s like his Physical Therapy), elective, and lunch with his peers (that are not in the program). In addition, he has Ms. Payne (certified teacher/ tutor) that is with him all day. She gives him that extra push he needs and assists in whatever he needs. It’s been a long road (2 years) and I feel blessed to have even been given that chance to walk that road. I’ m also aware that there’s still a lot of walking left to do… It’s a very long road, but I’m not alone. I have God and an amazing husband, son, mom, and family and friends that will continue to cheer me on and hold my hand.
UPDATE – Here’s a video that Alexia posted in June of 2015 showing Frankie playing basketball:
