Reunited Years After Near Tragic Accident

Published: February 10, 2009 | 7364th good news item since 2003

Ted Scercy usually didn’t work on Sunday. But on Sunday November 22, 1992, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, he had to; the supervisor at the trucking company he worked at had him scheduled for a tractor-trailer drive.

It was somewhat depressing news to Ted. He had been looking forward to see his kids perform in a Thanksgiving program at the church he and his family went to.

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A faithful man, Ted started his trip with a prayer.

“I asked God, ‘Just make something good out of this night.’

God will answer your prayers… There’s no doubt in my mind that night that a miracle took place. I’ve always said that, and I’ll tell anybody.”
– Ted Scercy

A little bit after midnight Ted came around a sharp curve. At the bottom of an embankment he thought he saw a small red light.

He pulled his truck over and went down to check; a destroyed Datsun came into sight. The car had apparently hydroplaned on the wet road, got of the road and had hit a tree at high speed.

To this day Ted swears to have seen the red light and thinks it must have been an indicator light from the Datsun’s dashboard. However, the car’s battery was no longer working…

A man had been thrown 15 feet away; a woman had crashed through the windshield.

And in the backseat, behind the driver seat, was 7 year old Jeremy Cook was seated behind the driver.

Wearing his seatbelt he hadn’t been launched out of the car but the impact had lifted the driver’s seat and smashed it on top him, crushing Jeremy under it.

Working alone he was unable to get the seat off the boy but getting help from a passing driver worked. Ted freed Jeremy and performed CPR on the unconscious kid until paramedics arrived.

After 3 months of deep coma, doctors took Jeremy off life support. Convinced that his son would die, James Cooke spoke through the telephone from his own bed in another hospital.

“His cousin held the phone up to Jeremy’s ear.

His dad said, ‘Jeremy, Daddy loves you.’ When Jeremy heard those words, he woke up.

He said, ‘I love you too, Daddy.’”
– Ted Scercy

Jeremy left the hospital in a wheelchair; paralyzed from the waste down. He’s had 18 surgeries and trained very hard. 24 year old today, he now walks with crutches and walks to church three times a week for worship services and Bible study.

Ted Scercy was named Goodyear’s North Carolina Highway Hero.

As Jeremy grew older he sort of lost contact with Ted. As he came past his telephone number recently he decided to give the man a call. They talked for nearly 3 hours straight.

“I thank God and I thank Ted, too, because he helped.

My parents feel the same way I do. They’re very thankful that Ted stopped that night.”
– Jeremy Cook

Ted Scercy now drives local truck routes for Estes Express in Charlotte. He’s involved in mission work and disaster relief for his church and has received several humanitarian awards.

“I don’t do it to be recognized. I do it because if you’re there, you’ve got to do it.”
– Ted Scercy

Ted and Jeremy have regular contact nowadays.

Published in Kids & Teens
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