Schell City teen triumphs over tragedy

The hero of the NEVC Homecoming was Seth Alexander, NEVC junior and member of the basketball team, who demonstrated true grit as he tore through the paper entry to start the varsity basketball game wearing his new prosthetic legs. Alexander, who suffered the loss of both legs in a car accident last November, plans to be able to play with his team next season. Neoma Foreman/Special to the Herald-Tribune.

Automobile accidents often happen so quickly that specific details are not remembered or are forgotten over a period of time. That's not the case with Seth Alexander of Schell City, Mo. Alexander, 16, can remember "every detail" of the Nov. 2, 2011, rural Vernon County accident that changed his life forever.

Alexander was driving seven miles west of Schell City on M Highway. The road ahead of him, a bit slick from oil, dust and a previous shower, had a hill and a sharp turn where he slid a bit as he went through the area a little before. He had forgotten the mishap but can't forget what happened as he navigated the road for a second time.

"I noticed the back end of my truck started to go toward the ditch. I tried getting control and it fishtailed to the left. I tried getting control of it again and it fishtailed to the right." That's when the back end of the 1998 Mazda pickup truck he was driving went down into the ditch and hit something solid enough to cause the vehicle to roll.

Seth Alexander, 16, of Schell City, Mo. stands in the hallway of his family's home. He uses the platform canes in the photo to assist him with walking on the titanium alloy prosthetic legs that can't be seen because of his jeans. Rusty Murry/Herald-Tribune.

Alexander says he wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the driver's side window of the truck. On the ground with the cab of the truck resting on his legs, Alexander said, "I remember the smell of gasoline. I could hear the wipers going afterwards. I remember smelling dirt; it was both a calming smell and a gut-turning smell." Alexander said he remembers things going black for a second and when it passed "I was letting off the cab and pulling myself out from underneath the truck."

The mighty shove required to move the small truck enough to free his legs broke a two inch section from the middle of Alexander's right collar bone. It had to be plated and screwed back together. A couple of farmers were close to the accident, but oddly enough Broc Koshko, who had been working on the plumbing at Alexander's house and left to fetch a fitting, was the first one on the accident scene.

"He was coherent and sitting upright," Koshko said. Alexander was worried that he couldn't feel his legs, according to Koshko, but he didn't notice anything other than the boy's legs seemed a bit out of kilter. Koshko stayed with the young man and tried to comfort him until an ambulance arrived.

Alexander was a pitcher for the Northeast Vernon County Knights baseball team. According to some he was very good and some college scouts already had their eye on him. A big part of the young man's life plan was going to college on a baseball scholarship.

That dream is gone.

When the truck landed on him, it damaged his legs so badly that they had to be amputated just above the knee. Since the accident, Alexander has had 11 surgeries. According to his mother Stephanie Mosher, the "definitive surgery, when they actually amputated both of them," took place on Nov. 21, 2011. Doctors tried to save one of the legs at mid-shin, but there was just too much tissue damage.

A stunned family and a determined Alexander had to decide what to do. Mosher said, "he's the one who made the decision" about his legs.

"It took him two days to make the decision," she said. Things got pretty dark for Alexander.

"He was angry for awhile," his mother said, "I think we all were. And he was depressed for a bit."

Then things changed.

One morning Alexander looked at his mother and said, "I'm done being depressed. I'm done being mad; there's no point. I'm still here, I'm still me."

Mosher said, "literally from that point on there's been no stopping him."

And he has been busy.

In the four months since he had his accident, Alexander has accomplished what his doctors and therapists say often takes a year or more, according to Mosher.

He came to terms with his lot in life and speaks about it openly and honestly.

"Modesty's out the window at this point," Alexander said.

He noted his accident has been a "life-changing" event, not just for him but for the entire family. Alexander has been through months of physical and occupational therapy. He went from a wheelchair to walking on titanium alloy prosthetic legs with dual canes. After only a month with two canes, he now only uses one and plans to be done with it in the next couple of weeks. He still does therapy three days a week.

He spent a lot of time in the hospital. His parents stayed with him so that left his younger sister Sierra, 12, and his little brother Braden, 10, at grandma's house for a long time.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Alexander's siblings just wanted him to be all right. They didn't care if he didn't have legs as long as he came home. In some ways, it brought the family closer together. "It changed the family dynamic," said Mosher.

Right now, Seth Alexander is looking toward the future.

"I've been opened up to new things, been new places and met new people," he said. He is still on track to graduate with his class even though he is the youngest "and the coolest."

He still plans on attending "Mizzou."

Alexander said he wants to play wheelchair basketball and may become a physical therapist. "I have a lot more opportunities now than before," he said, adding that he will face the challenges in his future head on as they come.

Alexander has been by the accident scene four times since the wreck. He said it's kind of strange seeing the spot, but it's gotten "easier to look at it and say that's where my whole life changed.

"I'm not really scared any more of much of anything," he added.