Yale student defies odds after accident, graduates

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- After a car accident left him in a coma for several weeks, one college student defied doctor's predictions, not only graduating, but graduating from Yale with honors.

"I tell myself every day, look, you have an option: either feel sorry for yourself or get better," said Brett Smith. "Simple as that."

Smith is choosing the latter.

He came to Yale in the fall of 2002 as a top notch student and top notch football player. He played quarterback and defensive back for the JV team until his playing days and nearly his life, came to a crashing halt.

"There was a lot of blood, a lot of injuries," Tom Hackley said, "the roof of the vehicle was sheared off, the front end of the vehicle was heavily damaged."

Hackley witnessed the fatal crash.

Nine Yale students, including Smith, were on their way back from New York in an SUV. A jackknifed tractor trailer set off a chain reaction of collisions that included the SUV.

Four of the Yale students were killed.

Smith was among the survivors, but barely.

"I broke every bone in my face except my mandible. This bone," Smith said. "Umm, I broke my sternum, my left clavicle...it was separated, excuse me. And I broke my frontal bone, here..or um dented it in."

The impact of the crash left Smith with a traumatic brain injury and in a coma for weeks after the accident.

"When my dad saw the cat scan...I mean the MRI, he was sick to his stomach," said Smith. "He said how in the world is he gonna function, cause it was that bad."

His father is a doctor and knew the challenges his son faced. He had to re-learn how to speak and to regain use of the whole right side of his body. Smith knew the injuries ended his football days, but his goal was to return to Yale: a goal many doubted, even one of his doctors.

"She's like, 'you can't go back to Yale. There's no way.' And I was like, how can you make that statement," said Smith. "It was very disheartening to hear someone say that, but at the same time it was very, I'm gonna prove this person wrong."

One doctor told Smith's parents that he would never recover, and that they should put him in a home and move on with their lives.

"The comment I would get from everybody was, what home is he in," said Darlene Smith, mom. "You know, where is he placed? I said well, he's placed at Yale."

"We're very proud of what he's accomplished, still has a lot to work on and some things will never be totally normal," Smith's father said, "but he's come so far and it should give a lot of people hope."

Smith still suffers from short term memory loss, walks with a limp and has limited use of his right hand, but he overcomes. He writes with his left hand now about as well as he did with the right.

"To ever conceive that he was gonna come back and graduate from Yale, I don't know if that was really fathomable at that time to be honest," said Jack Sielicki.

His coach at Yale, Jack Siedliecki, visited him a year after the accident.

"He had some serious serious physical issues, he obviously had some mental issues that he was recovering from," said Siedliecki. "It's just pretty miraculous what he's done over these years."

"I just relearned how to do everything," said Smith. "And it was hard. I can't explain how hard it was. I mean, it is still hard because in some respects I am lacking in some areas."

Brett Noah walk and talk interview

"Nearly 10 years later, here you are, back at Yale. What does it mean to you to know, you're graduating," asked News 8 Sports Noah Finz.

"It's very special," Smith replied.

Few people will face the obstacles Brett Smith did.

And only few might be able to overcome them.

And on Monday, Smith became one of the few to say they graduated from Yale.