Stephen King Opens up About Near Death Experience, Almost Losing His Leg

Author Stephen King ruminated on his traumatic car accident on Wednesday, the 20th anniversary of the injury.

King was hit by a car while taking a walk near his home in Maine back in 1999. The author had made a habit of stretching his legs and clearing his head by walking around the neighborhood, but on one June afternoon he was hit by a minivan on the side of the road. Wednesday was the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, and for King, it was a great time for reflection. He took to Twitter to share his thoughts with his fans.

“On June 19th, 1999 I got hit by a van while taking a walk,” he tweeted. “As I lay unconscious in the hospital, the docs debated amputating my right leg and decided it could stay, on a trial basis. I got better. Every day of the 20 years since has been a gift.”

King’s fans know about his accident very well. The author wrote about the tragedy at length in his book On Writing, which is part memoir and part writing advice. King described the accident in depth, as well as the grueling recovery process. He did his best to explain to fans what he took away from the accident, and how it became a formative experience for him.

The driver who hit King was Bryan Edwin Smith, who later explained that he was distracted by an unrestrained dog in the car with him. When he hit King he stopped, and the author was thrown 14 feet off the road into a depression in the ground. Investigators later confirmed that Smith was not drinking or speeding at the time of the crash.

King was air-lifted to the hospital, Central Maine Medical Center, where he was treated for a multitude of injuries. He suffered from a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures in his right leg, a broken hip and lacerations on his scalp. The doctors initially considered amputating his leg, but thankfully they were able to save it. King got five operations in the first 10 days after the accident. He then entered a period of intensive physical therapy before getting back to work.

King wrote about how his writing process had to change during his recovery. He explained that at first, he could only sit at his desk for about 40 minutes at a time, but he forced himself to do it while he could. He slowly built his way back up to his hours-long writing marathons, and has since turned out some of his most influential work.