‘Everybody loves Liam’: The legacy of the Ottawa teen killed in car crash
Posted Jul 10, 2026 03:54:04 PM.
Last Updated Jul 13, 2026 03:40:00 PM.
Learning about the ripples of how her 17-year-old son touched the lives of so many people is what is getting Allison Wood through these days.
The Ottawa mother lost her son, Liam Wood Cini, after he could not overcome injuries following a crash in the west end on June 25. The grief is still overwhelming at times, but hearing from people about how impactful her oldest son was is part of his legacy.
“I want him to have a legacy,” she said through tears in an interview with CityNews. “I’m just trying to build a legacy for him, because I don’t want him to ever disappear and be forgotten.”
On June 25, Liam was driving two other friends on Old Carp Road, a winding path that connects rural portions of Carp with Kanata’s South March neighbourhood. At around 9:36 p.m., the vehicle left the roadway and hit a tree, giving Liam life-threatening injuries and putting one in serious condition, the other with minor injuries.
Wood told CityNews that Liam was in a coma for six days as nurses and doctors at CHEO worked tirelessly to save his life. Unfortunately, she said, his injuries were too serious for him to overcome. Canada Day happened to be the night of the torrential rainstorm the city experienced, which flooded basements and cancelled celebrations.
It wasn’t until after the storm that a rainbow spread across the nation’s capital and fireworks exploded that Liam passed away.
“If there’s such a thing as a beautiful death, he had one. It was just amazing,” Wood described. “Just all the love that was sent to us by so many people all over the city. There were prayers all over the city. There were vigils.”
Fundraising Liam’s legacy
It is clear by the outpouring of support from Liam’s various communities — his work family, friends, teachers at his high school — that he was immensely loved by everyone, Wood said. Since his death, Wood, a practicing therapist, started holding “therapeutic walks” as a way to work through her own grief and lean on others. It has also allowed her to have conversations with the people who knew Liam in different ways.
A GoFundMe fundraiser was launched initially to help the family with funeral costs (they’re expecting hundreds of people). As it grew, Wood began to realize how they could use the funds to create a legacy as well. One of her goals is to make sure people never forget who he is.
“He was kind of the little therapist of his friends, and so my first thought was that we would do the memorial bench because I want his friends to have a place to come and sit and talk to him,” she said.
To make sure those at his high school continue to remember him, Wood wants to create a bursary with the money from the GoFundMe so that each year at graduation, his name will be said out loud and his story will be told. Details of what this will look like are still in the works, but Wood said that if they donate a certain amount, it will be an ongoing bursary for years to come.
Liam took a shop class since Grade 9 and quickly excelled. He’s always been a bit of a mechanic — it was one of his first jobs — and adored his teacher and the atmosphere of the class, Wood said.
“They used to go at lunch and spend time with this teacher, and all his friends would kind of gather there,” she said.
Wood hopes that if they fundraise enough, she’ll be able to donate a piece of equipment in Liam’s honour, making sure something he cared deeply about is also impacted by the donations.
Wild and fun but emotionally intelligent and insightful
The grief for Wood, her husband Alexxi Cini and Liam’s younger brother can be overwhelming at times. Not only was the 17-year-old beloved by his classmates, but he also always kept things interesting around the home.
Wood says that when he was a child, she could not believe the emotional maturity Liam had.
“He was the kind of kid who would notice other people’s emotions and we would have really deep conversations talking about life, love, friendship and war,” she explained. “He would ask very deep questions when he was very, very young.”
Of course, being his mother, Wood always knew how special a kid Liam was, but others noticed too. When she was out buying a stroller for her children, the salesperson came by to tell Wood about the interaction they had with Liam.
“She’s like, “Yeah, I was having a conversation with him and the things that he says are just so insightful.’ And he was three,” Wood smiled.
This sort of compassionate, caring soul carried into his teen years. Wood learned from his close friends and classmates that Liam had a way with everyone. He would reach out and support other students going through a hard time, make sure people could see the other side of an argument if they were mad at one another and lend a helping hand to friends.
He would walk down the halls at his high school, and everyone knew his name.
“Everybody loved Liam,” Wood said. So much so that it became a catchphrase in their home.
“He would get away with everything. Be late for a class, the teacher wouldn’t care — everybody loves Liam. Go to an interview, get the job on the spot: everybody loves Liam. Meet the girlfriend’s parents, they fall in love with him — of course they do — everybody loves Liam.”
He lived his life to the fullest, filling his days with friends, his pets and dirt biking. He loved nothing more than things with wheels, whether he was riding them or fixing them, Wood said.
Before his death, Liam was living his best life, his mom said. He had just gotten his dream job, had great friends, was outside as much as he could be and had just finished the school year.
“A lot of people would focus on that and say, ‘Well, how tragic it was that it was coming together,’ but from our viewpoint we’re just so grateful that his last six days were so joyful. You don’t want anything else for your kid except happiness. And he had that. So, you know, even though it’s sad that he didn’t get more of it.
He left with a bang.”
