Former Beaufort County Sheriff Alan Jordan’s near-fatal motorcycle accident and recovery is one of the Washington Daily News’ Top 10 stories of the year.

The accident happened in the twilight hours of Aug. 9. Jordan was driving east on N.C. Highway 33 at the intersection of U.S. Highway 17 when he was hit by a Ford F-350 truck making a left turn onto the southbound ramp of the highway. He suffered  injuries to his neck and hip, but it was Jordan’s left leg that bore the brunt of the impact — taken off below the knee by what Jordan’s wife Tina believes was the toe hook on the front of the truck.

At the time of the accident, the driver of the truck, a Kinston EMT named John Williams, said he didn’t see Jordan until seconds before the collision.

It was the proximity of the accident to Chocowinity’s EMS station that meant the difference between life and death and the confluence of events after that ensured Jordan’s survival.

Within two minutes, Chocowinity EMS paramedics Wendy Chandler and Becky Heath were on the scene, applying the tourniquet that Vidant Medical Center doctors would later say was what saved Jordan’s life. At the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office telecommunications center, Supervisor Crystal Marriner, who had worked for Jordan, didn’t hesitate — she made the call that would get a Vidant East Care helicopter to the scene to rush Jordan to the trauma center in Greenville. According to Tina Jordan, the helicopter trip from Greenville to the N.C. 33 roadside and back to Vidant Medical Center took a total of 19 minutes.

Jordan coded and was revived three times during that flight, solely due to blood loss.

“I truly believe if the accident hadn’t happened right there, I would have died,” Jordan said during an October interview. “This was one of the keys to my survival, because not only did it happen in front of the Chocowinity EMS station, but that they were so capable and so proficient in their response. They knew what to do, and they did it expertly, and that’s what saved my life.”

Jordan would go through 15 surgeries over the next 44 days. His leg was ultimately amputated above the knee because of the level of trauma to the bones and muscles surrounding the joint, and a plate inserted to fix his broken left hip. A fractured vertebrae in his cervical spine didn’t require surgery, but did require him to wear a neck brace.

The neck brace is now gone and Tina and Alan Jordan can be seen out and about town. The former sheriff has a high-tech wheelchair that allows him to go places, and go quickly. The prosthesis for his left leg is in its final fittings; when he gets it, he’ll be back on two feet.

“I cannot wait to get my leg,” Jordan said in October. “I’m just looking forward — I want to get my leg and get on with life.”

Through the surgeries, rehabilitation and recovery, the Jordans have remained positive and grateful for the second chance given them by the quick actions of emergency responders. Both Marriner and Chocowinity EMS were recognized at the Beaufort County Police Activities League’s annual dinner/dance in November — each winning a First Responder Community Service award for their actions on that night.

Jordan was Beaufort County Sheriff for 16 years and had only just retired in December 2014 after serving three decades in law enforcement. Motorcycles, however, were a lifelong passion.

“You know, I really was passionate about motorcycles, not just riding on them but working on them,” Jordan said. “From 1968 to the accident, I had a great time doing it. I wouldn’t go back and change that.”