He calls himself Josh “Amazing” Reid. His life was saved by what he calls amazing grace not once but twice, and now, as a phlebotomy collection specialist for the American Red Cross, he’s devoted to saving the lives of others.
One of his greatest dreams began when he was just 4. That’s how old he was when his father taught him how to play basketball. He was a natural and couldn’t get enough of the game, the feel of the ball in his hand, the echo it created on the court, the strategy — he was hooked. He played at the MLK Jr. Recreation and Aquatic Center through his youth, and continued playing at Benjamin Banneker High School in College Park. In 1998 he transferred from a junior college to Georgia College & State University on a basketball scholarship. His first season as a point guard for the Bobcats was fantastic. He hoped his college years would be successful enough to propel him into a professional basketball career.
But that dream was extinguished on May 6, 1999.
The school semester ended, and Reid was making the trek from Milledgeville back home to Atlanta, his roommate along for the ride in his passenger seat. They were on U.S. 441, just 20 minutes into their drive, when a pickup truck slammed into them head-on.
Reid lost consciousness. When he came to, he saw a steering wheel covered in his blood. His seat belt had slashed his neck open. He followed the sound of screaming and looked right to see his friend with a broken arm and wrist, and a leg stuck beneath the dashboard. Reid felt no pain, just shock as he realized the accident was real and not a nightmare. When he tried to open his door, he looked down to find his right leg, unmoving and shattered.
“At that moment I knew I was about to die,” said Reid, 47, of Lawrenceville.
Reid was rushed to a hospital and into surgery upon his arrival. He received blood transfusions and, unfortunately, the surgeons cut him open in the wrong place while inserting rods and screws into his femur, which was broken in six places, causing intense nerve damage that Reid suffered from the moment he came out of anesthesia.
He stayed in the hospital for a week, then started a new life, one that required 18 to 25 pain pills a day just to survive.
“My relationship with God went from believing in him to expecting him to come through for whatever my heart desired,” said Reid. “Chronic pain was my baseline, but I expected God to make the sun shine in every other aspect. I felt he owed me.”
Reid sat on the bench his junior year to support his team and played infrequently during his senior season. The pain was so terrible he’d have to ice his leg all through the night every time he played.
“That’s the reason I didn’t finish my school psychology degree,” said Reid. “I wasn’t sleeping, so I wasn’t getting up and going to classes. I’d earned an associate degree in junior college and that would be it for me.”
Reid worked in the South Fulton school system as a paraprofessional and substitute teacher for seven years. He worked at a Red Cross warehouse during the summer and learned about a phlebotomist position in 2007. He applied and got the job.
“I was still in a bad place, struggling with severe pain and swelling, but I felt like this was the right job for me,” said Reid. “My dreams were ripped apart in that accident, but my life was saved. Maybe this was how I could return the favor.”
Reid missed work some days because his leg swelled so much that he couldn’t reach down to put on a sock. Fed up with the pain, he nearly put an end to his life in 2015.
“I had the gun to my head, and I cried and cried and cried myself to sleep,” said Reid. “When I saw the gun in my bed the next morning, I called for my sister to come get it and asked her to help me find a counselor.”
Reid did get counseling, as well as a hip replacement.
“I was born again after that surgery,” said Reid. “The nerve damage was gone. The swelling was gone. I could live my life again. I can put on my socks without any pain, something I will never take for granted. I have amazing grace in my life and reassurance of why I want to live and why I’m here. It’s amazing just to wake up every day.”
Reid no longer plays basketball because he can’t run or jump, but he does play golf and loves it nearly as much. He met his fiancée, Shamocka Bolton, through work and together they hope to create a nonprofit that serves first responders.
Reid is in his 17th year with the Red Cross. Every day donors share their often-harrowing stories with him about why they give blood, reigniting Reid’s passion for the job, as well as his desire to donate. He’s given 93 units of his A positive stock so far, more than 11 gallons, his way of thanking the donors who gave for him.
“God has shown me it’s a blessing to be a blessing,” said Reid. “Life really is amazing.”
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