Former University student and aspiring actor Noah Smith’s life took a tragic twist on Dec. 1, 2002, when he was involved in a car accident that left him a quadriplegic with little hope of walking again.
Smith, 23, has since found hope on his way to recovery, thanks to the support of friends and strangers.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do hardly anything if I hadn’t had so much support,” Smith said in a telephone interview. “It’s taken me a long way.”

The path to healing has been strenuous, especially considering that the driver who caused the accident was uninsured. Smith said he had limited coverage, which provided little relief for such a devastating accident. He and his family have relied mostly on donations to help fund a variety of rehabilitation programs. A special needs trust, which can be found at http://www.noahsmith.org, has also been established to aid his recovery.
Through rehabilitation, Smith said he is now able to take steps using a walker or support from his therapists, and all of his major muscle groups are functioning.
He said he moved out on his own about five weeks ago for the first time since the accident. He now lives in Carlsbad, Calif., hundreds of miles from his parents’ home in Hood River. He moved to seek therapy at a rehabilitation center called Project Walk, a cutting-edge intensive program for people with spinal cord injuries. There, Smith attends what he calls “the best rehab available” three hours a day, four days a week, working his body through different ranges of motion and working on his coordination.
“It’s just a real test of patience, I guess,” he said.
While retraining his body to function properly poses unfathomable challenges, the cost of the program provides its own obstacle. Treatment, along with living expenses, costs about $7,000 a month, according to his Web site.
But fellow actors from local theaters have joined together to raise money for Smith’s cause through a fund-raiser called “Noah Nights.” After performances given at the theaters, actors have asked audience members to donate money toward Smith’s therapy.
So far, about $3,500 has been raised, said local actor Greg Foote, who organized the fund-raiser. Foote, who is also a Lane County Circuit Court judge, said Smith could need up to a year at Project Walk.
“He wants to be there as long as possible,” he said. “The more we can raise, the longer he can stay.”

In April, actors from Cottage Theater Inc., Actors Cabaret of Eugene, Lord Leebrick Theater Co. and Willamette Repertory Theatre asked audience members for donations. This weekend, University students acting in the play “Much Ado About Nothing” at the University Theatre will also call on audience members to help Smith with his recovery.
Senior Moriah Shanahan, who acted in a play with Smith before his accident, said she is happy to have the opportunity to help her friend, who she calls a “pure-hearted person.”
“He’s one of the kindest, mellow, sweet persons you’d ever meet,” she said. “When you can help out a fellow actor, a fellow friend when something so crazy happens, then everybody wants to do it.”
Theatre arts Assistant Professor John Schmor, who is a close friend of Smith’s and of his family, said his former student has made “amazing progress” considering that the medical world once held no hope for quadriplegics.
“For Noah, the recovery’s been astonishing,” he said. “It used to be not too long ago that that would be that.”
Smith often experiences neurological muscle spasms in his legs, which is considered good news because it means future controlled movement is possible, Schmor said. Keeping Smith’s spirits up has been one of the hardest obstacles family and friends have had to face since the accident, he added.
“It’s just very, very hard to push your body like that and not give up,” he said.
Smith said he takes his recovery a day at a time and added that seemingly little things such as washing dishes or doing the laundry provide some of the toughest challenges.
“A lot of it right now is trying to survive,” he said.
Smith said he still thinks often about his life before the accident, but for now, his other dreams have been put on hold.
“I think a lot and dream about the future, but I’m not going in a certain direction other than trying to walk again,” he said.