When Alex Burbules was involved in a huge crash three years ago, it changed his life forever. The way he has fought to carry on as normal is truly inspiring...

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A lot of us have ‘been there’ as invincible teenagers; sitting in the back of a car while a mate drives recklessly, you don’t want to be the one to say slow down, so you push the consequences of an accident to the back of your mind. Although the vast majority of journeys are relatively uneventful, sometimes things go wrong, and people are forced to live with the terrible results of a quick laugh. We decided to asked you guys about the worst accident you’ve ever been in. There were some incredible stories, but it was Alex Burbules’ comment that really hit us. Three and a half years ago he was a passenger in a Honda Accord that was involved in a terrifying accident. We got in touch with Alex to ask if he’d share his story. In his own words, this is it…

“My friend and I decided to get a ride home from school with another friend who was driving his parents’ 2005 Honda Accord for the first time. A couple of our other friends were following in another car behind us. We first stopped at the driver’s house to drop his brother off, which was very, very fortunate because I believe he would not have made it through what happened next. We pulled out of the driveway onto a dirt road kicking up mud as we went. “It had just rained while we were in school, and we were weaving and dodging potholes because in late May in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, the roads are especially nasty from the ground thawing out after a brutal winter. The driver was able to make it past a few but when the road became smooth again he gunned it. I looked over at the speedometer and it read 75mph. I mentioned to him that he should slow down, but my comment was disregarded. Then, both my friend in the back seat and I saw the sign, “Pavement Ends, Loose Gravel.” This is when we started to scream at the driver to slow down. “When the pavement ended there was a bump in the road and at the speed we were going it was just large enough for the tyres to leave the ground. We landed in a large section of potholes and this was the point at which I knew we were not making it out of this.

“I saw my left foot was completely gone and my right leg was broken three quarters of the way down my shin.”

“The car slid out of control and started heading towards a ditch. The front right corner of the car hit the ditch first. I saw the windshield go black, covered in dirt, and that was it. The next thing I know I am looking down the tree line laying on my side in the wet grass, and I could hear my friends up on the road looking for me and calling out my name. “My body ached like I have never felt before, and I realised I was ejected out of the car. All I knew at this point was pain. I called out to my friends to tell them where I was, and the first thing I said was “I’m alright!” I was going to try and get myself to the road because I was 30 metres from it. Then I looked down at my legs.

“I screamed out in a way I never knew I could. I saw my left foot was completely gone and my right leg was broken three quarters of the way down my shin with both bones sticking out. At this point I could not stop yelling out in pain. It was all becoming too real. Next thing I know my friends are all around me. The car that had followed us from school was there with two more of my friends. “The one in the back seat of my car had taken off his belt and put it around my left leg to make a tourniquet. He had severe back pain and could not grip the belt, so one of the kids from the following car took over and held it there until the ambulance arrived.

“The whole time I am lying on the ground screaming. Paramedics arrived 20 minutes after the accident and they began the process to get me to the hospital. They had to load me on the stretcher to take me to the ambulance on the road. At this point every movement, every twist and turn brought out more pain and agony. After I was put into the ambulance they drove me a mile down the road to an open field so I could be airlifted to UPMC Hamot Hospital. “My mum and brother met me in the hospital so they could see me before I went into surgery. I grabbed my mum and cried in her arms. The first thing I told her was, “I am so sorry” because I knew our lives would never be the same again. After I woke up I was told what had happened and the status of my injuries. I had suffered a completely severed left foot and lost about a quarter of my shin bone. My right shin suffered a compound tibia/fibia fracture. I had three broken ribs which collapsed my lung. I received multiple cuts and a bruised spleen. I also received a minor concussion, but I was not aware of this until three months later. My friend in the back seat of the car had two fractured vertebrae, a lacerated spleen, and multiple cuts on his head and chin. The driver walked away with nothing more than scratches.

“After the investigating officer had taken a look at the accident scene he came to talk to me. At this point I had no idea what happened to the car because I didn’t see it when I was put into the ambulance. The officer said he had no idea how the car was able to do what it did. We found out that when the car hit the ditch it flipped end over end into the first tree. The car continued to bounce off the other four trees along the road. When it hit the last tree it was so weak that the car split into two pieces. All that remained of the back half of the car was the trunk, seat and the axle. Everything else was gone. The front half was for the most part still intact. As intact as half of a car can be.