Dad’s heroes are his boys
Published: November 1, 2006
James Smith has always been proud of his boys. They’re smart, funny and all-around good kids. And, oh yeah, they’re also his heroes.
The boys — 5-year-old Colton and 7-year-old Ryan — saved their father’s life last month when they were able to stay calm and follow instructions during an accident that nearly cost Mr. Smith, a Shikellamy High School graduate, his legs.
It was Sunday, Sept. 24, and Mr. Smith, 40, was outside with the boys preparing to build a pen for their rabbits. Construction is nothing new to Mr. Smith. He’s worked for Liberty Excavating, of Harrisburg, for years, and he knows how to operate various types of tractors and equipment. On this day, his project involved a diesel tractor and an auger, a corkscrew-like device used to dig fence post holes.
Everything was fine, until the auger hit resistance.
“The hole was about four inches deep, and it hit a rock,” Mr. Smith said. “The drill bit jumped up and hit the (nearby) fence, and the fence caught my pant leg.” The auger twirled Mr. Smith’s pant leg around itself and then “drug me into the auger.”
“I was spinning around the auger on the ground,” he recalled.
With his boys nearby, Mr. Smith struggled not to panic. He knew if he did, things would only get worse. So as calmly as he could, he hollered for Colton and instructed him to turn off the tractor. Colton did as he was told.
He then sent Ryan into the house for the cell phone. While Ryan was getting the phone, Mr. Smith said he could see Colton was looking at his legs.
“I kept telling him not to look at Daddy’s legs “¦ that my legs were broke but that the doctor would fix them,” Mr. Smith said. “I told him just to focus on my face and that once Daddy got out of here and to the hospital, everything would be fine.”
By then, Ryan had returned with the phone and he laid it alongside his father, but Mr. Smith couldn’t reach it. Colton then ran to the garage and got the wire cutters so his father could cut the tangled wire off. Once freed from the fence, Mr. Smith called his wife, Loria, who was working three miles away at a restaurant.
“I told her to call 9-1-1 and then come home, that I had a bad accident,” he recalled.
Mrs. Smith hung up the phone and told her stepmother to call for the ambulance. She hurried home and arrived just minutes before the fire department and rescue personnel. Naturally, Mr. Smith said, when she saw his legs, she panicked. That’s when Colton did something else remarkable.
“He put his two hands on her cheeks, looked her in the eye and told her to focus on the positive things until Daddy got out of the hospital,” Mr. Smith said.
He told his mother “everything will be OK.”
“He kept telling her that until she calmed down, and then she realized that she needed to calm down for the boys,” Mr. Smith said.
Throughout the ordeal, Mr. Smith said he didn’t feel any pain, he assumes because he mentally blocked out what had happened to him and focused on keeping his sons calm.
“I was more focused on them not being scared than on myself at the time,” he said.
Mr. Smith said he is proud of his boys and the way they kept it together.
It’s been a month since Mr. Smith’saccident, and despite initial fears, the prognosis is good. Doctors say he will walk again — maybe even by Christmas — though it will take about a year before he is fully recovered.
Within the first week after the accident, Mr. Smith underwent eight surgeries at Hershey Medical Center. He suffered multiple fractures from the hip down on his left leg, including repair of an open fracture between his knee and ankle. On his right side, he broke his hip and tore all but a few of the ligaments on the knee cap. He also broke the femur bone on his right leg.
Home from the hospital for a little more than a week, Mr. Smith is, for now, confined to a wheelchair, and his legs are totally non-weight bearing. He’s finding it tough to adapt to maneuvering through the house, but with the help and support of his wife and boys, he said he can handle it just fine.
“It really opened my eyes to how hard it is for people with wheelchairs,” he said.
Fortunately, he’s got a lot of help. Originally from the Sunbury area, nine of Mr. Smith’s 10 siblings live within an hour’s drive. He’s also got his wife’s family and plenty of friends.
His biggest helpers, though, are the smallest ones.
“The boys like to help me — they move my legs for me and like to push me around,” he said. His wife has also been there, helping with rehabilitation and exercising his legs for him each day. She teases, he said, that he is really putting their marriage vows to the test.
“She’s been wonderful through all of this,” he said. “She doesn’t complain at all. When this is all over, I’m going to have to do something really special for her.” His extended family, friends and others in the community are also showing their support by stopping by for visits and organizing a fundraiser to help with medical expenses.
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