At 6 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2016, Will Huffman’s F-150 truck smashed into the back of Dean Otto’s bike in Charlotte, NC.
Otto shot forward and hit the ground, fracturing his spine and briefly losing consciousness. When he came to, he couldn’t feel or move his legs. By the time he made it to the hospital, his surgeon, Dr. Matt McGirt, estimated that he had a 2 percent chance of walking again.
Now, in an unbelievable turn of events, Otto, Huffman and McGirt will run a half-marathon together through Napa, Calif., on the first anniversary of the tragic accident.
Otto, who works in tech in Charlotte, says he owes his miraculous recovery to forgiveness.
“The vertebrae were smashed up against my spinal cord,” says Otto, now 52. “My back was dislocated. I broke my pelvis, broke my tailbone, broke my ribs.”
But Otto says he was never scared — or resentful. Instead, he said a prayer and instantly forgave Huffman.
“I knew if I didn’t, the resentment would eat me alive.”
Huffman, now living in Richmond, Va., was floored.
“He said [to me and my passenger], ‘Hey, I’m Dean, what are your names?’ And, then, he said, ‘How are you guys doing this morning?’” the 27-year-old salesman says of the tense moments after the accident. “At the time that was pretty crazy, but now that I know [Otto] it doesn’t shock me at all.”
Once Otto got to the hospital, doctors leapt into action.
“His spinal cord was salvageable … I knew he had a shot in the dark — a slim shot — so we took him straight to the operating room,” says McGirt, now 42. The surgeon and his team relieved pressure on his spinal cord, realigning his spine and putting it back together with “a bunch of titanium,” McGirt says.
A few hours after the surgery, Otto was able to wiggle his toes.
McGirt sat Otto’s wife and kids down for a difficult conversation.
“I told them maybe he’d be in a wheelchair, but with God’s grace he may not. And they said, ‘You don’t know Dean. If there’s a chance, he’s going to take it.’”
They were right. From that first wiggle, Otto pushed himself to walk, then climb stairs, then jog the length of his rehab facility.
“Dean was like, ‘Look. In a year from now, if I can run a half[-marathon], you’ll do it with me,’ ” says McGirt. At the time, he laughed it off.
“I’ve seen some pretty remarkable outcomes. But did I think a guy could go out and run 13 miles with all that titanium in his spine? No way.”
During his time in the hospital, Otto connected with Huffman, who had tracked him down through social media. Huffman and his wife visited Otto one week after the accident, and then again throughout his rehabilitation. The two kept their relationship up once Otto was home, and Otto inspired Huffman and his wife to be more active — even inviting Huffman to run the half-marathon in Napa.
“I wasn’t so much surprised that he forgave me,” Huffman says. But he didn’t imagine that they would forge such a friendship. “I think most people would stop there and say, ‘Nice meeting you, but I’m done.’”
Otto’s family and friends have embraced Huffman, against all odds.
“It can be awkward, obviously, being the one that caused it, but Dean … makes sure I’m comfortable,” Huffman says.
Just shy of one year later: Otto is back in fighting form; Huffman has begun running races to prep for Napa; and McGirt — with Otto’s encouragement — is down 28 pounds and has become an avid runner.
Otto’s still cycling, too — on the same bike, since the frame was mostly intact post-crash. His most recent jaunt was an event he organized called Finish My Ride, in which 20 cyclists — including Huffman and McGirt — rode the route that Otto started on that fateful morning.
McGirt points to Otto as the ultimate example of turning a tragedy into an opportunity. Luck went his way that morning, but McGirt believes that it was his attitude that drove his phenomenal recovery.
“He not only turned lemons into lemonade, but he’s selling that lemonade, too,” the doctor says.
Otto has raised $11,000 for Carolinas Rehabilitation’s LIFE Program for Spinal Cord Injury patients, and he, Huffman and McGirt are raising money for the organization ahead of their upcoming race.