Published : Friday, 25 Jun 2010, 6:50 PM EDT
By: BETH GALVIN/myfoxatlanta – Fox 5 News

ATLANTA – In a little over a week, Grady paramedic Simeon Smith will take part in his fifth Peachtree Road Race, but the 28-year-old won’t be running or walking, he’ll be riding, as part of the Grady EMS bike medic team. This Fourth of July, Smith will be celebrating his survival.

Training at Grady’s 911 center, paramedic Simeon Smith likes that his job is to help people.

“I love this job, it’s all that I really know right now,” said Smith.

Last September, Smith was in good shape and biking about 300 miles a month, when the East Point father of two got very sick, very quickly.

“I felt cold, like I had a fever, and I told my wife and I went and laid down in the bed and 24 hours later I couldn’t get out of bed and we had to call 911, call EMS,” recalled Smith.

Smith, who’d lost his spleen after a bike accident in 2002, had contracted a deadly form of strep.

“I was on a ventilator another three or four hours after that,” Smith said.

EMT Jeff Powell rode with Smith on Grady’s bike medic team and he said he couldn’t believe what happened to his colleague and friend.

“It was crazy, absolutely crazy. I had no idea, out of the blue, unexpected. Chances weren’t good initially,” Powell said.

Smith was hospitalized for three months.

“When I first kind of recovered, when I first came around, they knew there was damage, that there was tissue damage, they didn’t know the extent,” Smith said.

In five operations, doctors were forced to remove four toes from Smith’s left foot and then, amputate his right leg below the knee.

“I was very, very depressed after I was home for a month or so, and just sitting on the coach, before I got the prosthesis. And that’s when I started worrying about the future and what was going to happen,” said Smith.

Within weeks of receiving his new prosthetic leg, Smith was back on his bike. Smith said he was terrified of falling, but for the first time in a long time he was hopeful.

“I decided, ‘Yeah, I can do this. I think I can make the Peachtree,’” Smith said.

After four years of rescuing Peachtree Road Race runners who were in trouble, Smith wanted back on Grady’s bike team.

Powell, who is the team’s captain, was skeptical.

“It’s a lot of training, a lot of biking. Stressful, extreme environmental conditions. For him to come back, that’s a huge amount of pain tolerance he had to go through, just to even be able to walk, let alone ride a bike,” Powell said.

But Smith convinced his teammates.

“We all got together and said, ‘If anyone can do it, he can do it,’” said Powell.

It will be so crowded on race day that it will be impossible for ambulances to access the course, and that’s where bike medics come in.

Smith will be riding around on a bike with about 50 pounds of medical equipment on the back, including IV bags, oxygen and a defibrillator.

Smith said he can’t wait to ride again this Fourth of July to celebrate both independence and second chances.

“I’m really excited,” said Smith.

Smith is one of 13 Grady bike team medics who will be working the Peachtree Road Race. Smith said his biggest challenge won’t be riding, but getting on and off his bike and kneeling down. Smith said he’s been training every day and will be ready for the race.