Sobering Brush With Death

SPRING HILL - Austin Smith removed a piece of glass

from his back Monday night, almost a month after

he was thrown through the windshield of a

convertible in a horrific crash.

But he's not complaining.

When paramedics arrived to the four-car smash up

on U.S. 19 and saw the damage, they were certain

Smith was dead. Smith himself thought he was a

goner.

But he pulled through, against the 50/50 survival

odds doctors gave him, and lived to see another

day with his young family.

But his fight's not over.

Smith, 21, was kicked out of the hospital after a

week when the medical coverage provided by the

car insurance ran out. He was told to go home,

but he landed a bed and rehabilitation at Health

South through a charity program they operate.

But that help has dried up, too. Smith, his

fiancée and their 17-month-old son live with his

mom in Spring Hill. But her job is scarcely

providing the money needed to meet the mounting

medical costs and pay for everyday expenses.

Diapers are becoming precious.

Lawyers have told Smith that his best chance for

relief is to find the driver who started the

chain reaction of accidents.

But that's easier said than done. What Smith

remembers is driving back home in his mom's

yellow Pontiac Firebird south on U.S. 19 around

11 a.m. on Monday, April 7.

He had just passed Northcliffe Boulevard, near

the Outback Steakhouse and Winchester South

shopping plaza, when what looked like a blue Ford

Taurus crossed the northbound lanes and merged

into southbound traffic. But the driver, who

looked like an older lady, slammed on the brakes

in the middle lane and almost came to a complete

stop, Smith said.

Smith jerked a hard left on the wheel to avoid a

collision, a move that caused the convertible to

jump the median into oncoming traffic.

The convertible smashed first into a BMW and the

impact tossed Smith, who wasn't wearing a seat

belt, onto the roadway. Somehow, Smith wound up

on the door panel of the convertible and he

skidded that way underneath a northbound delivery

truck. As the truck screeched to a stop, a pickup

truck was hit and knocked onto the shoulder.

The Florida Highway Patrol's crash report is in

agreement with Smith's version of events.

Michael Enfinger had a good view of the crash

from the cab of a dump truck he was driving north

to Brooksville. He described the car that cut off

Smith as a newer model Ford Taurus, also, but he

thinks it was gray.

The Ford's driver just kept going, even though

"there' s no way they could have missed (the

crash)," Enfinger said.

Throughout it all, Smith never lost

consciousness, though it happened so fast that he

can't quite piece the series of crashes together.

He remembers seeing the undercarriage of the

truck over his head and hot oil dripping onto

him. The truck's driver didn't know he was there

until Smith managed to pull himself out from

underneath.

A witness to the crash rushed over and cradled

Smith's head. Smith was certain the end was near.

"Don't let me die," Smith told him.

The first paramedics on scene later told him that

they assumed he was dead when they saw the

wreckage. They could hardly believe he was the

driver of the mangled convertible 100 feet away.

Cloudy weather grounded medical helicopters that

day, so Smith was taken to Oak Hill Hospital.

Doctors agreed he needed treatment in Tampa, but

he remained there for a week.

Smith suffered a broken femur, a partially broken

spine, road rash and various cuts and scrapes

from the glass. It will be about four months

before he walks again and that will be with the

help of a cane.

The crash was a sobering brush with death that's

altered Smith's outlook on life. Every moment

spent with his family is treasured.

"It's changed everything, my thinking, my actions

..." he said. "Now I realize that any second could

be your last."