MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) – When 26-year-old Nick Collins woke from his coma, he had trouble wrapping his head around the news doctors gave him.
"I was told beforehand that it was going to be a challenge with rehab," Collins said.
Last August, Collins was thrown from his friend's car and run over by an 18-wheeler. Collins went through a handful of surgeries and had his left leg amputated.
Since then, Collins has tackled rehab to help regain strength.
"I made a couple personal goals as well as the ones they had for me," Collins said. "It was really just making transportation a little easier, getting from the seat to the wheelchair, wheelchair to the shower."
For three hours a day, seven days a week, Collins did physical therapy. Collins says he would go on field trips to restaurants in an effort to teach himself how to maneuver in public with one leg.
"I was just so sore. I mean, I was sore in muscles I forgot I had," he said.
In December, Collins set a goal to be home by his birthday, Feb. 9. Nick beat his goal by two-and-a-half weeks.
"I always did believe that everything happens for a reason," he said. "Whatever is shining down on you that you think is bad right now, something good is on the other side."
Throughout his journey, Collins says the community hasn't left his side.
When he arrived home there was a "Welcome Home" banner flying on his porch and neighbors waiting to greet him in the yard.
Collins says the positive energy has motivated his perseverance and his faith in God.
"I've been in a Catholic school Kindergarten through 12th grade and this is probably the strongest my faith has ever been in my whole life," he said.
Collins says doctors are building him a prosthetic leg and he will get wound care and therapy at home.
