PHOENIX — The Valley teen who survived a crash that killed his friend said he is ready for things to get back to normal.
"Definitely ready to go back to snowboarding next year and dirt bike and just do everything normal again," Jett Weinstein, 17, said.
On Feb. 4, Weinstein and 16-year-old Jaxson Elliot were on their way home from snowboarding in Flagstaff when their car hit a guardrail on I-17 near Cordes Junction. The guardrail speared into the car and Elliot died instantly.
"I was laying back and all I remember was just a big impact," Weinstein said. "I had the whole guardrail on my body stuck, and couldn't get up. If I was sitting up, the guard- I would have been dead."
Candice Mishler, Weinstein's mom, said she was tracking her son's location and saw he was stopped near Cordes Junction, and then when it refreshed he was at HonorHealth Deer Valley.
"They told me he had a 5% chance of survival," his mother, Candice Mishler, said. "And the odds of him losing both legs were likely and they were trying to prepare me for that."
Weinstein's leg had to be amputated after the crash. He has had seven surgeries and is now in an inpatient rehab facility.
"The process has been lots of physical therapy and occupational therapy," Weinstein said. "Every day I have three hours of it.
His mother is just thankful he is alive.
"The way he was recovering was at rapid rates where the medical team used the word 'miracle' to us several times," Mishler said.
Weinstein, who played football at Mountain Ridge High School and plays other sports socially is recovering and ready to be active again. Though he lost his leg, he said he is ready to get back to snowboarding.
"That's his goal for next winter," Mishler said.
He is thankful for the support from his school. Students gathered a couple of days after the crash to remember Elliot and pray for Weinstein's recovery.
"So thankful for everybody just praying for me... just... I want to go to see Jaxson's family when I get out of here," Weinstein said.
For now, Weinstein is set to be released from the rehab facility he is in next Friday. He said there's one reason he is staying so positive.
"God. He brings it out in me because without Him I wouldn't be here," Weinstein said.
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