Burn victim home for the holidays

SANFORD -- Robert Leffer was so badly burned in a fiery five-vehicle crash 11 months ago in Wake County that few gave the trucker a chance of surviving.

Hardly anyone expected him to be home for Christmas.

But on Thursday, the 49-year-old left UNC Hospitals and returned to Sanford to spend the holidays with his wife, Amalia, and his 2-year-old son, Robert Jr.

A fleet of firetrucks from Lee County and Sanford firehouses lined the streets to honor the man who suffered second- and third-degree burns on 80 percent of his body.

On Christmas morning, as children in many homes jumped out of bed to see what Santa had left them, Leffer awoke to his own fulfilled wishes - to be home with his family.

"It's overwhelming," Leffer said Saturday. "I'm running out of words to describe it. It's just amazing how a community and people you never met want to do things for you. It's just taught me a lot."

48 hours to live

Kevin Power, Leffer's landlord and friend, is thrilled with the homecoming. He still remembers bending over a heavily bandaged and barely recognizable Leffer hours after the collision and pleading with the trucker to hang on to life.

"They gave him 48 hours to live," Power recalled Saturday. "I said, 'Robert, you know I love you brother. Do me a favor. Fight with everything you have.' "

Leffer was on his way home on Jan. 26 when his tractor-trailer overturned and went up in flames after colliding with an Isuzu Rodeo near the Wade Avenue exit on Interstate 40. The driver of the Rodeo, Osmar Guillermo Perez-Vicente, 28, was charged with reckless driving and driving without a license.

Rushed to the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, Leffer faced an uphill battle.

Lots of support

"I've always been a fighter," Leffer said Saturday. "I've always had a will to survive. Maybe that just kicked in while I was in the coma."

Over the months, well-wishers have tried to help defray some of his medical expenses by holding fundraisers. For the holidays, friends and well-wishers, many who never met Leffer, filled the house on the outskirts of Sanford with furniture, TVs, a Christmas tree and lots of toys.

'A walking miracle'

David Nance, chief of the Northwest Pocket Fire Department in Lee County, didn't know Leffer before the accident. But he was drawn to the story.

"He's a walking miracle," Nance said. "There's no other way to put it."

Nance was with Leffer to drive him home from the hospital on Thursday and got teary-eyed as he crested the hill where the fire engines and two rescue vehicles waited with flashing lights. Leffer, emotional by the show of support, got out and walked with his cane the rest of the way home. Supporters flanked him; his family followed him.

On Saturday, Power, the owner of the home where the Leffers are staying, treated the family to a home-cooked meal of a Cajun pork roast, mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Leffer will return to Chapel Hill in several days as he undergoes more therapy. A week before Christmas, surgeons took skin from his thigh and grafted it onto his neck where scar tissue has made it difficult for him move his head.

Once he gets the medical OK, though, Leffer hopes to return to Sanford to live near his old and new friends - home for good.

"I've always wanted to live to old age," Leffer said.