Daily News-Record

BROADWAY - Lying in the critical care unit at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, his left lung badly bruised, right lung collapsed, right knee torn apart and left wrist damaged from a car wreck, Jeremy Withers opened his eyes, looked up at his parents and asked a question.

"He wanted to know, 'Am I in trouble?'" Withers' mother, Kim, said Wednesday while watching Jeremy throw the shot put for Broadway High School.

Withers, a Broadway senior, was in trouble. He had lost control of his car coming around a bend on a Timberville road connecting Routes 42 and 11, flew off the pavement and plowed through a fence. His parents were far more scared than they were angry.

"They were just happy to see that I was alive," said Withers, who doesn't remember the accident.

The August 31 crash kept him in the critical care unit for three days, before he spent another two days in the hospital. Withers survived the wreck, but lost his senior year of football and one of his most beloved possessions, his limited edition Acura Integra RX7.

"When we saw him, his eyes were open," Kim Withers said. "He was able to look at us and talk with us. We definitely knew he was hurt really bad because he didn't even ask about his car, which was his baby."

A week after the accident, Withers was in a wheelchair on the Gobblers sideline in Woodstock, watching his team beat Central 41-13. From there, he launched into rehab, working first at the RMH Wellness Center, then with school trainer Ellen Hicks, who also works at RMH.

"You get that phone call that says he had a wreck and your first thoughts are, 'Is he going to make it?' " BHS assistant football and assistant track coach Phil Collett said. "We found out he was healthy, then we found out he wasn't going to play. It breaks your heart for a kid like that. I'm not sure I could've reacted as positively as he did."

Football season was out of the question, but Withers held out some hope he could be ready to compete in the indoor track season. That didn't happen, but he was ready to rejoin the Gobblers for the outdoor track season, where is a standout pole vaulter, while also competing in the shot put and discus.

"As soon as he got himself stabilized and out of the hospital, he was at RMH and here in the training room and working all the time to try and get recovered," BHS track coach Tim Harris said. "He knew he was going to have some weaknesses, but he was able to get back on his pole pretty quick."

The chance to compete helped pull Withers through his lost senior football season and push him through grueling workouts to rehabilatate his knee.

"At first it was really depressing," Withers said. "But with track coming up, it gave me something to shoot for."

Harris had expected Withers to be a 15-foot pole vaulter this year, but that was before the accident. After having reconstructive surgery to repair damage in his right knee, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Withers has a slower approach on the runway. His best vault this year in competition has been a 12-6, but he's routinely hit the 13-foot mark in practice and has already qualified for the state AA track meet.

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His still-recovering knee has forced Withers to use a spinning delivery when shot-putting, to ease pressure on the joint. He wears a brace when he competes and is throwing just over 43 feet.

"The weak knee has really hindered him," Harris said. "He's had to go from a glide to a rotation. That's something new he had to pick up. Picking up a new technique like that, that's tough."

In the discus, Withers set a personal best this year with a throw of 134 feet.

"He was always real positive and felt that he would be ready," said Collett, who coaches the Broadway throwers. "I don't think he ever had any doubt that he'd be ready. That's just the kind of kid he is."

Withers plans on attending Coastal Carolina University next year and wants to pole vault and walk-on to the football team.

He doesn't think much about the accident these days. What he does recall is the support he got from friends, coaches, teachers and competitors. Withers and his family estimated he had about 60 visitors a day while in the hospital, many of whom he didn't even get to see. Still, Withers said their presence helped pull him through the ordeal.

For his parents, the show of support helped ease their fears during those five days.

"The overwhelming support was tremendous," Dean Withers, Jeremy's father, said. "The hospital kind of indicated that they hadn't seen that type of scene in quite a while. That really helped us and helped him."

As for the car, the Integra was totaled. Now Withers drives a Nissan Extera, a car his father described as "a little slower, and a little safer."

But, after all he's been through, Withers athletic career hasn't hit the dead-end it could have.

"He is a very strong competitor," Harris said. "I really think it's part of who he is."
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Record Number: 109E3A78CFC0B730