Note: The video in the player above is from a previous report.
A northern Indiana man recounted the six angonizing days he spent trapped in his pickup hidden under a bridge, hoping someone would hear his cries for help.
Matt Reum, of Mishawka, Indiana, was traveling to a friend's funeral on Dec. 20, when he swerved to avoid striking a deer along Interstate 94 in Portage.
"The guardrail basically just showed up on the left-hand side of my truck, and you know, after that it was all downhill," he told NBC's Dana Griffin in an exclusive interview.
Reum became pinned inside his truck — out of sight to the drivers who traveled on the interstate above. To complicate matters, he couldn't reach his phone. It was wedged on the other side of the dashboard.
"I was just yelling, please somebody help me," he said. "I could hear sirens, and I could hear voices out in the distance. And I would yell and nothing."
It turns out that one key action may have been key to his survival.
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"All of the water and stuff from the road above me would wash down and land right in my sunroof," he explained. "And I would take my sweatpants where it would collect that water and I would basically suck the water out of my sweatpants."
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As the days went on, Reum lost his will to live and even considered ending his life.
"There was just my voice in my head of my best friend saying stop," he said.
Finally, on day six, a father and son-in-law went out for a walk when they noticed Reum's wrecked truck underneath the bridge.
"I didn’t know if he was alive or not, cause he was out at that moment," good Samaritan Mario Garcia said. "His first thing is - are you real. 'Yeah, I'm real.'"
Reum was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition and later had to have his leg amputated.
Through it all, he gained a new lease on life.
"Matt before the accident suffered with anxiety, depression, so my mission going forward is I want to make people happier," he said.
Reum had the chance to speak with Garcia and Nivardo De La Torre, Garcia's son-in-law, on Sunday. The three were able to reunite in person a few weeks earlier.
"It changed my life meeting Matt," De La Torre said.
"Hes like my son now," Garcia stated.
Reum said "it’s always amazing to see them."
"I don’t think in 20 years my thoughts on that will change," he said.
