A man who survived six days trapped in a pickup truck that veered off an Indiana highway and came to rest under an overpass unseen recounted the factors of his survival while vowing to cherish a new chance at life.
Matthew Reum, 27, was discovered trapped in the mangled truck in a shallow creek in Portage, Indiana, on Dec. 26 by a man and his son-in-law, who were looking for a fishing hole along Interstate 94.
Rushed by helicopter to a trauma center, Reum was in life-threatening condition. He had suffered a broken hand and a broken leg and ultimately had the other leg amputated above the shin, he said.
Still, Reum, a journeyman welder from South Bend, is embracing life with a new perspective.
“I get in the helicopter, and my brain’s like, you made it — you’re alive,” he said in an exclusive interview after his release from the hospital. “It still took me a couple days even after that to realize the full reality of everything, you know.”
He was headed from Hobart, Indiana, to South Bend in fog and was hoping to have enough time to attend a friend’s funeral the next day, he said. He swerved to avoid striking an animal — possibly a deer — and the vehicle was quickly on the interstate’s shoulder before it descended off the roadway into a shallow creek below, overturning along the way, according to Reum and first responders.
“Shortly after that, I blacked out,” Reum said. “And then, when I came to, I was kind of where I was where my truck has sat for six days.”
Reum said he relied on his readings and experience as a recreational outdoorsman, noting he learned the so-called survival rule of three — humans can generally survive without three minutes of breathing, three days of water and three weeks of food.
Nonetheless, his thoughts turned dark, and he attempted suicide, Reum said.
“There was just that voice in my head of my best friend just saying stop,” he said. “And you know, it’s something I don’t wish on anybody to ever have to go through a…
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