Four months after a horrific crash

Four months after a horrific car crash nearly killed him, Justin Corter of Cold Spring

continues to recover.
"It's a miracle," says his mom.
Oct. 10, 2010 stands out on the Corter family calendar.
 His mom, Donna Corter was in church that morning.
Justin, 20, had hopped a ride with a friend, headed for town.
"His car was down, so she had come to pick him up. And I don't know exactly what

happened," Donna said.
They were driving along Rt. 191 when the car left the roadway and slammed into a tree.
"They hit the passenger side, Justin's side," Donna said.
Julie, the driver, was fine. "Justin broke her impact. He hit the tree and then she

slammed into him. When she slammed into him, she collapsed his lung on the left hand

side."
The extent of his injuries was staggering. 
"He had two fractures of his scull. He had bleeding and swelling of his brain. His hip

had multiple fractures. He had facial fractures all over. The right eye orbital, the

socket of the eye, was completely fractured. The first time we saw him, the best way I

could describe his face was the eyes were so swollen and sticking out from the swelling

he looked like a goldfish, you know the ones with the big eyes? I never realized

someone's eyes could swell so bad," she said.
All these months later, his mom says, "He's still not 100 percent."
But he's come a long way. "If you could have seen him two months ago, laying in a

hospital bed, to where he is today. He was on a respirator.  He was in a coma. He also

had a bruised spleen. The left lung was collapsed. And that week, he started to develop

pneumonia. It was a mess."
Was she afraid of losing him? "That thought never even crossed my mind.  I could never

see him gone," Donna said. "There was one time that I can say I panicked ...They had a

throat tube...He coughed up the tube for the respirator."
Doctors said they'd have to put a new tube down, failing that, they'd have to do an

emergency tracheotomy. " I said: What will happen if you can't get a new tube down?

They said, ‘He will die.' That's when I think it finally hit me. I lost it that day,"

Donna said.
In the ICU for two weeks, Justin remained at CMC for a full month before being

transferred to John Heins Rehab on Nov. 2 .
"In the beginning, [a therapist] would hold pictures up, and it would be of a cell

phone and he would tell her a hot dog. He couldn't tell you what things were. I spent

many a day crying on the way home," his mom said.
 Justin, his family, and the staff at John Heins continued to work hard. Nov. 30,  he

was released from the hospital.
"He's come quite a distance," his mom said. "He's doing fantastic. He's scheduled to go

next week for his reaction test for driving." If he passes, he'll be one step closer to

reclaiming his driver's license, something he's hepped on doing.
"Through all of this, I think one thing is really important — prayers," said Donna.

Ministers, priests, everyone was praying for them. "I really do believe the power of

prayer is amazing," she said. "I could start crying at the outreach of everybody, the

community, our friends. It was an amazing journey.
"We received so many cards through all of this. And Justin was on so many prayer lists.

People were sending cards, we didn't even know them," Donna said.
A pre-school teacher for the First Presbyterian Church in Honesdale, Donna was touched

by the thoughtfulness of her four-year-old students who made a poster, saying, "We miss

you Miss Donna."
Her son's accident has changed her family, she said.
"We all look at things a lot different this year. We're all learning to look at things

a lot differently. With a bigger heart. We're very, very grateful for everything that

we received through all of this, and everybody's help."