STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — A 25-year-old Good Samaritan is still in recovery nine months after he was hit by a car trying to help another man who was hurt in a freeway pileup in Studio City.

Clark Kelly told CBS2’s Brittney Hopper that it was just after midnight on Jan. 25 when a 16-car pileup occurred on the southbound 101 Freeway.

Kelly said the vehicle in front of him crashed and the driver was ejected onto the busy interstate.

He immediately got out of his car and pulled the stranger to safety.

When Kelly stepped back, he was hit by another car. He said he was thrown 40 feet, landing on yet another vehicle.

“So much was happening. Cars were flying at me, there were tire screeches and screaming, people yelling and crying,” he said.

Kelly said he asked for his cellphone, thinking it would be his last call to his mom.

“I had to call her, you know, I had to let her know I loved her,” he said.

The accident caused Kelly to break his legs in 36 places and to nearly lose his left thumb.

He’s now mostly confined to his bed and is taking nine different medications daily.

Kelly said he has no idea who he helped, but would have done it all over again knowing he saved someone’s life.

“My legs are a small price to pay for somebody else’s life,” he said.

Doctors told Kelly he will walk again, but it will take at least another year.

Kelly worked as a sculptor for blockbuster movies such as “Transformers” and “Star Trek,” and he’s determined to work his dream job again.