By Kim janssen
Chicago Sun Times
Little Luis Reteguin’s face has more stitches than the average baseball.
And his chest sports a stab wound ghastly enough for a horror movie.
But if the slender 11-year-old schoolboy was hurting Sunday, he wasn’t going to let anyone know it.
Three days after he risked his life to save his mom from a crazed knifeman who sneaked into their Northwest Side home, Luis wasn’t interested in playing the hero.
“I just wanted to protect my mom,” he said. “I didn’t really feel anything when he stabbed me.”
As relatives gathered to celebrate an Easter Sunday dinner at the Reteguins’ home on the 2500 block of North Monitor, Luis’ grateful 40-year-old mother, Susana Reteguin, was also recovering from knife wounds to her face, neck and body.
The intruder who stabbed the woman and her son crept into the family’s second-floor apartment about 1 a.m. Friday, then climbed into Susana Reteguin’s bed as she slept, police said.
When she screamed, Luis, who was asleep in another bedroom, awoke and ran to her aid.
“At first, I thought my dad had come home,” he said, “but when I saw what was happening, I jumped on the man’s back and punched him.”
The knifeman, who Luis said was overweight and likely in his 20s or 30s, then forced Luis into a bathroom and stabbed him, Luis said.
Undaunted, Luis managed to force his way to the kitchen, where he armed himself with a knife, then went after the intruder again.
The knifeman managed to take the blade from Luis, but fled when Luis grabbed a phone and dialed police.
“There was blood everywhere,” Luis said.
Luis’ older brother, Jesus, 16, had slept through most of the drama, but then woke up and chased the attacker as he fled in a gold car with a picture in the rear window.
Their mother was treated at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, and Luis was treated at Children’s Memorial Hospital. Both were released Saturday.
Police have yet to make an arrest, Chicago Police spokeswoman Anne Dwyer said.
In the meantime, Jesus said, his mom is “very proud” of Luis.
“He’s very brave,” he added.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.