HOUSTON – It's one of the most unpredictable things that can happen.
“I was ejected from the back seat of the vehicle and landed on the road on my head,” Miles Fojt said.
A car accident nearly took Fojt's life. It put him in a coma for more than a week before he woke up confused in a hospital bed.
“I didn't have a lot of road rash by the time that I was awake because they say whenever you have a brain trauma like that that your body kicks into overdrive and starts repairing itself as quickly as possible, so it was pretty weird to wake up and have people telling me how bad off I was in the beginning and not really being able to see it physically,” Fojt said.
He was physically under a lot of stress. He had multiple surgeries on his brain, his legs, and doctors at Memorial Hermann Hospital even had to remove part of his scalp and skull to allow his brain to swell for three months. All the while he was constantly in need of blood transfusions.
“I lost a massive amount of blood on the scene and I was actually pronounced dead whenever the officers got to the scene and I just so happened to get lucky,” he said. “One of the officers stopped and felt my skin and felt that my blood was still running.”
While enduring months of uncertainty not knowing if or how Fojt would recover, the one thing his family was sure of is that blood donors were keeping him alive, and remarkably with just some scars and hearing loss, he walks, talks normally and even finished high school on time. It proves that even though Fojt never saw this coming, others had the foresight to donate blood, making sure he would have a chance to recover.
“[Blood donation] helped saved my life and I know it can help save a lot of others,” he said.
KPRC Channel 2 is teaming up with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center for the station's 24th annual Summer Blood Drive.
Each participant has the potential to save up to three local lives with their blood donation.
The 2016 Summer Blood Drive kicks off in front of KPRC 2 Studios on Thursday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Eligible blood donors at the KPRC 2 event who meet the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center's donation criteria will receive two single-day admission passes to Typhoon Texas water park in Katy, while supplies last. All donors will also receive a commemorative blood drive T-shirt.
The KPRC 2 Summer Blood Drive will then continue at several locations around the Houston area through June 20. Blood donors at those events will receive a commemorative blood drive T-shirt.
Click here for locations and times.