Bruce Eccles knew the odds were not in his favour, not even tilted slightly in his direction.

At mid-afternoon on a beautiful fall day, blue sky with not a cloud in sight, a 3,000-pound vehicle had in the blink of an eye appeared directly in front of Eccles’ dual-sport Honda motorcycle. The car was less than 10 feet away; Eccles was travelling 30 to 35 km-h.

“I’m dead, there’s no way…” Eccles said of his thoughts at the time. “I knew I didn’t stand a chance.”

Eccles’ motorcycle slammed into the vehicle on the rural northern Ontario road. He was catapulted over the motorcycle handlebars, snapping both legs and shattering his right knee before hurtling through the air and landing with a thud on the car. Eccles broke a wrist and finger, and suffered soft tissue damage in his shoulder.

It couldn’t get any worse, but it did. Eccles flopped off the car, smacked the ground. His neck and thumb broken.

The long-time Dundas business owner lay in the dirt, squinting up at the sky. Still blue; not a cloud in sight. He had no pain, not quite yet.

“Oh,” he thought. “I’m still alive.” And as the dust quite literally settled on that Magnetawan Township roadway, outrage seeped into Eccles’ consciousness.

A careless driver had ruined his reunion motorcycle ride with buddies, who, after spending a day on the trails, anticipated devouring juicy, barbecued steaks, sharing a bottle of wine and boasting about the halcyon days of their youth.

Eccles hadn’t met his maker on that sparkling, autumn day, and now he was outraged at the driver who ruined his plans.

He intended to pick himself up, dust himself off and give the driver a no-holds-barred lesson on exiting private driveways. He formulated his words, and what followed might be comical if not for the extent of Eccles’ injuries.

The Ancaster resident tried to scramble to his feet, give the driver a piece of his mind. He never made it, didn’t even get off the ground.

“I couldn’t stand, both my legs were broken and my knee was shattered. I wasn’t going anywhere.

It was the most pain I have ever experienced,” said Eccles. “Then the shock set in. I knew I was really beat up, and I started to feel numb.”

Eccles was conscious as paramedics arrived to gingerly manouevre his body onto a back board and strap his head securely in place. At Parry Sound General Hospital, he was examined “bumper to bumper.” A doctor with a grave face advised: “You’re far too beat up for this hospital. We have to get you to a trauma centre.”

It was cold, really cold, on that Oct. 7, 2010, ride by air ambulance to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

No azure blue sky; clouds in sight.

At Sunnybrook, there were days when no one was sure Eccles would live to see another day.

Medical personnel noticed his oxygen level was dropping. Marrow from his broken knee was seeping into his blood stream. Eccles was intubated and rushed into a sixhour surgery.

He was on life support for seven days that he describes as “a dark week.” He was hallucinating, not sure what was real and what wasn’t.

• • •

Six months later, Bruce Eccles hobbles into his office at Eccles Auto Service, a cane close at hand as he reclines in his desk chair. He’s been to hell and back on an arduous journey to get back on his feet.

But he has something he wants to say to the community that has helped him inch toward recovery.

First and foremost, a huge thank you to everyone who sent cards or emails offering their best wishes and prayers, from church and service groups, to fellow merchants and Rotarians in Canada and the United States.

Thanks also for the support shown his family and the staff at his business, and thanks to a Canadian health-care system that brought him from the brink of death back to Dundas.

“I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have survived that accident,” he said. “I received hundreds and hundreds of cards. It’s really humbling, it’s overwhelming. I don’t even know the right words to describe it…it all helps you get better.

I had a really good support crew.” For the most part, Eccles is once again fit as a fiddle. Doctors have told him the only ongoing problem is his right knee. It was so badly shattered a knee replacement is recommended.

Eccles knows he has to do it, but truth be told, he’s had his fill of hospitals.

Don’t misunderstand; he was treated well. But little things take on a huge significance when you’re sporting a stabilizing halo 24/7 for 13 weeks — things like using the washroom on your own, sleeping in your own bed, putting on your shoes, shaving and the absolute thrill of taking a shower.

Eccles spent three weeks at Sunnybrook, followed by another six at Hamilton General. He did physiotherapy four days a week, participated in pool programs and worked out in the gym, all with the assistance of medical personnel he describes as second to none.

People, he said, often heap criticism on Canada’s health-care system, but Eccles knows he wouldn’t be around to share his story if not for the dedicated people he encountered after his accident.

“I know people criticize our health-care system, but from being picked up on that dirt road to the day I was discharged, I got nothing but excellent care,” he said. “And nurses, they’re really, really special people.

They don’t know you from Adam when you first come in. You’re a total stranger, but they treat you like a loved one.” Along with the knee problems, Eccles said he tires very easily.

By about 3 p.m. each day, he is exhausted and needs a nap. He is not sure when, if ever, he will return to work.

His brain, however, is going a “hundred miles an hour.” He nearly lost his life on that seemingly gilded, fall day in the north. It has changed him, irrevocably and forever.

There is an urgency in every day, every moment, every breath.

“If you have things you want to do, your Bucket List if you will, do it, do it now. Don’t hold back because you don’t ever know when the opportunity will disappear forever.”