One second Nicholas Pettitt was walking toward the Island Transit bus stop in Greenbank; the next he was flying through the air as his college textbooks, papers and a bouquet of dahlias meant for his girlfriend drizzled down onto Highway 525.

Pettitt ended up in a ditch alongside the highway, stunned but conscious, feebly waving his arm for help. A good Samaritan named Mark Fessler who was passing by stopped to help, and at 6:40 a.m. Pettitt’s long road to recovery had begun.

A healthy, athletic 24-year-old, Pettitt needed all the strength and optimism of youth to get through the medical ordeals ahead of him. Today, after 27 hours of surgery, he’s progressed impressively although his gait is still unsteady and he sometimes walks with the aid of a crutch.

A hit-and-run driver coming from the south struck Pettitt the morning of Oct. 12, 2004, as he was about to hop the bus for the ride to Skagit Valley College in Oak Harbor. The vehicle was traveling an estimated 50 to 60 miles per hour and literally knocked Pettitt out of his lace-up boots. “My shoes were on the highway,” he said one day last week, still shaking his head in disbelief.

Pettitt’s legs were smashed by the impact. Before he was taken into surgery his parents had to give their permission to amputate if necessary. Thanks to the talented doctors at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, both scar-covered legs were spared. A long metal rod holds his left leg together, while his right leg features a rebuilt kneecap and tendons taken from a cadaver.

Pettitt is thankful to still have his legs, but he knows his life will never return to normal. No more pickup basketball or baseball games, or anything else that will put a lot of stress on his knees. That also eliminates his source of income, as he used to lay hardwood floors with his dad, Fred Pettitt.

Much of Nicholas’ recovery was spent at his dad’s house, so Fred Pettitt knows how much pain his son endured. “After 27 hours of surgery they saved it,” he said of Nicholas’ most seriously injured leg. “It was like a miracle.”

The recovery was anything but easy. “It was pretty gnarly,” Fred said of the situation. “He was depressed and in tremendous pain after they rebuilt his knee . . . he was cryin’ and screamin’ in the room. It was terrible, and I still feel bad when I look at him.”

Today Nicholas is bright-eyed and optimistic again and he’s returned to a limited schedule at Skagit Valley College. But he can’t put the accident entirely behind him until the hit-and-run driver who changed his life is found.

It was dark that late fall morning, but Pettitt did get a glimpse of a male at the wheel before his head hit the windshield. “He hit me and left me bleeding and to possibly die in a ditch beside the road . . . he did not care and to my mind he is a coward,” he said in a written recollection of the experience. He also remembers fog still on the windshield, and that the car’s headlights weren’t on, so he suspects it may belong to someone in the Greenbank area.

Sheriff’s deputies and State Troopers watched the area closely the next few mornings and afternoons, but never found the car that hit Pettitt. They’re still looking.

“We don’t have very much to go on,” said Detective Jeff Rhue of the Washington State Patrol, urging anyone with any information to give him a call. He expressed sympathy for someone like Pettitt, who was “just walking and waiting for the bus.” The detective can be reached at 360-658-2588, ext. 142.

Pettitt has a practical reason for wanting to find the man who hit him as well, as he hopes he had insurance. His dad estimates the medical bills are approaching $500,000.

“I just got the bill from Whidbey General,” Nicholas Pettitt said. “It was ridiculous, something like $7,000.” He stayed there for only a short time before his $10,000 helicopter ride to Harborview and the ensuing costs of two weeks in the hospital and extensive surgeries.

Friend Jan Gunn started a Nicholas Pettitt Benevolent Fund at local Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo bank branches to which anyone can contribute.

Despite the pain and physical and monetary losses, Pettitt said he takes comfort in the silver lining from the ordeal. “It’s in the greater appreciation I have for the love of my family and the wonderful people in the community of Greenbank,” he said.