Mike Schiller, released Thursday from a Reno rehabilitation center after a near-fatal car accident, will joyfully tell you, "I am walking for Jesus."
With the next breath, Schiller, 54, is cracking jokes.
"I'm better than ever. I just came out of it a foot shorter," he said, referring to the loss of his left leg 3 inches below the knee.
"My friends are telling me, 'Mikey, you're not good enough to get to heaven or bad enough to go to hell,'" he said in a telephone interview shortly before friends Rudy and Sharon McTee brought him back to Carson Valley.
He wants everyone to know he is coming home, months ahead of schedule.
Schiller was critically injured May 14 when he was ejected from a Shelby Cobra he was driving on Kayne Avenue in the Johnson Lane area.
"I'm lucky to be alive," he said, appreciating the understatement.
"They pumped out two liters of blood from my lungs on the way to the hospital. I broke my trachea, I broke my skull in three places, my jaw in six places and my arm in four places," he said.
But Schiller insists he is better than ever perhaps in spite of the injuries.
"I am totally healthy," he said. "I walked for the first time on Wednesday and it was smoother than if it had been with my real leg.
"I'll still be able to snow ski, water ski, ride my quads and go jetskiing," he said.
Schiller said the $70,000 prosthesis is designed to float for water sports.
He isn't sure when he'll be able to drive and is looking for volunteers to help him get around town and to the doctors' appointments he's facing during his recuperation.
"I had a severe head injury and the powers that be are going to look at me in three months to see if I can get a license. If not, they'll check three months later. After that, if it's a no-go, I'll have to wait a year," he said.
Schiller said he put the same determination into rehabilitation that he does in running his business, Golden Nugget Automotive, and his passion for fast sports.
"They told me to expect to be here (rehabilitation) for three months and I am getting out in a month," he said. "I have done twice as much work as they required. I totally relearned how to think. I am coming back a stronger man than I was."
Schiller said the accident turned his life in new directions.
"I volunteered to go speak to new drivers at the high school," he said.
His message?
"Wear your seat belt and drive carefully."
Schiller said he has no recollection of the accident or what preceded it.
"I had a car that had a control issue. I hit the gas and it wanted to go sideways. I had no idea what happened to me. I can't even tell you what I had for lunch or dinner that day," he said.
Schiller said his other calling will be to work with brain injury patients.
"A brain injury is the scariest part. I spent a month in a coma," he said. "I had a positive attitude and every time I see a new patient walking around looking depressed, I try to do everything I can to help them out."
Schiller said he wants to thank family, friends and strangers who came to his aid and kept his business running for the past 10 weeks.
"I'm making preparations to oversee the day-to-day operations of my business and see how they're doing," he said.
He also talked about the staff at Renown Regional Medical Center and Renown Rehabilitation Hospital.
"I am totally self-sufficient. I can use the bathroom by myself, take a shower, shave. They even taught me how to bake a cake while I was there," he said.
Schiller held what he called "Mikey Appreciation Day" on Wednesday at the rehabilitation center and handed out two dozen roses.
Friends in the construction industry offered to remodel his house. They include Mark Burnett, Jesse Cribs, Greg Davies Construction and Paul Fontenot.
He also wanted to thank the thousands of visitors to his CaringBridge site and the more than 500 who left messages of support.
Then, there were the prayers.
"Tell everybody to still keep praying," he said. "I need it."
He estimated his hospital bill is more than $1 million and has scheduled a benefit on his birthday Sept. 5 at Topaz Lake.
"We're calling it 'Mikey's Alive and Turning 55,'" Schiller said.
He has invited Capt. Monte Colburn from the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" series who attended a similar event on Schiller's behalf June 10 in Gardnerville.
Tickets are $60, and, there will be room for 200 guests.
He's been invited to the Main Street Show & Shine car show Aug. 20-21 in Minden.
Schiller had planned to run the event this year before his accident.
"They asked me to come and give the Mike Schiller award Friday night. They'd like me to at least make a presence at the car show," he said. "I will be there as much as I can."
When he talks about all the people who helped him, and how far he's come, Schiller gets a little choked up.
"If I seem a little emotional, it's part of this thing, to be a little emotional," he said.
Schiller managed to find the silver lining in the last 10 weeks.
"I haven't had this much time off since I opened my business 20 years ago," he said. "I never was able to relax."
DETAILS
On the Web
Mike Schiller's Caring Bridge Web site
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mikeschiller
HELPING HAND
If you can help Mike Schiller with transportation, e-mail him at gna@clearwire.net, leaving a name and telephone number so he can contact you.
MIKEY'S ALIVE AND 55
Mike Schiller and friends will be selling tickets at $60 each for a benefit to help with medical bills he estimates have surpassed $1 million. A fundraiser is Sept. 5 at Topaz Lake featuring Capt. Monte Colburn from Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" series. For information, e-mail him at gna.clearwire.com.
