SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) – A Salem man has started a fundraiser in memory of his 8-month-old son who passed away last year.
It’s been nearly a year since the car accident that injured Brad Smith and killed his son, Finn.
A week before the accident, Brad hiked the 70-mile Laurel Heights Trail in just 28 hours, a feat he says was so tough he never thought he’d do it again until the accident changed his mind.
“Just four minutes from here I was in a car accident that almost took my life and my son’s life. One of my friends who I was hiking with came to see me in the hospital the next day and said right then and there, ‘Let’s do this again,'” Brad said.
As the anniversary of Finn’s death approached, Brad organized a fundraiser called “A Hike for Finn.”
His recovery was supposed to take a year, but he cut that time in half as he prepared to do the hike again, but this time in 24 hours.
The funds will be donated to organizations that Brad helped greatly with after the accident.
“LifeBank is the organization that retrieved some of Finn’s organs, and those organs could save someone else’s life,” he said.
Brad said Finn was everything he wanted in a son: He was inquisitive, didn’t cry much and was the youngest member of the YSU swimming and diving team Brad coached.
Although it’s tough to approach the date of the accident, he says he’s vowed to live his life for Finn.
“Parents shouldn’t outlive their children. We think about what we’ll do with our kids, what we want to do, how we’ll raise them, what experiences they’ll have, and so on, but we can’t do that anymore. So now I just live for my kids,” he said.
Brad said he’s looking for further ways to keep Finn’s legacy alive.
