With unexplained strength, grandson lifts car off manIDA TOWNSHIP – When the car slipped off the blocks and fell on top of 74-year-old Ernie Monhollen, he figured the end was coming.
"I knew I was gone," Mr. Monhollen said. "If I would have been there by myself, I would have died. I know it."
But he wasn't alone. With him was his 15-year-old grandson Austin Smith, who found the strength to lift up that Buick and allow the man he calls "Papa"? to crawl out. His injuries were severe, but he was alive.
"It happened very fast," said Austin, a freshman at Ida High School. "I just reacted. There was nothing else I could do."
It's an incredible story of family, faith and a burst of mysterious strength tied together with "ifs": If Austin hadn't been dropped off that Saturday morning at his grandparents' home on Todd Rd., if Mr. Monhollen hadn't discovered a leak under the car or if Austin had panicked, the outcome could have been much, much different.
As it was, Mr. Monhollen suffered a terrible 6-inch gash across his face, a broken eye socket, four missing teeth and three cracked ribs. But he is alive. He and his wife, Nancy, believe that divine intervention gave Austin enough strength to lift that car.
"The Lord was right there with him,"? Mrs. Monhollen said. "This truly is a miracle."
On Saturday morning, Austin was visiting his grandparents as he often does. That 1991 Buick Century was sitting there and Mr. Monhollen decided to get it back on the road for one of his grandkids.
With Austin pumping the brake pedal, Mr. Monhollen was on the outside bleeding the brakes. The car was up on concrete blocks when Mr. Monhollen
http://www.monroenews.com/article/20120222/NEWS01/702229985
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Topic: Ida Township teen lifts car to save grandfather (Read 760 times)
