Miraculously, the driver of the next car was an anesthesiologist. He started Matt breathing again, keeping him alive until a helicopter came.
Matt's face was rebuilt and his brain recovered, an odyssey chronicled in The Inquirer.
But the moment Matt walked out of the hospital after 25 days, he knew that for him, the symbol of his full recovery would be to complete an Ironman Triathlon - in his mind the ultimate test of athletic endurance.
Matt's parents and girlfriend were uneasy with this idea. He was in medical school now, at the University of Pennsylvania. What better symbol of recovery than that?
Matt was nothing if not determined. Determination and drive were the reasons he had recovered as well as he had, and now, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, his test had arrived.
The race would begin at dawn, and at his best he wouldn't finish until after sunset.
Matt did not expect to win. He was just hoping to finish safe and strong. There were so many things to worry about. Would his bike break down? Would his body break down? The high humidity and Caribbean sun would make a mid-80s day feel in the 90s. And the special helmet he wore biking - to cover his reconstructed face and jaw - would make a hot ride hotter.
To calm himself the evening before, and for perspective, Matt read through e-mails he'd received after the first stories about him were published.
"People said that I inspired them," Matt said. "Well, they inspired me right back. One of them had a quote from Winston Churchill, which I think is perfect for a triathlon:
" 'Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.' "
Back on Oct. 10, Matt did a sprint triathlon at the Jersey Shore as a warm-up to Cozumel. It was a baby by Ironman standards: quarter-mile swim, 10-mile ride, 3.1-mile run.
He finished in just under 55 minutes. A good day.
