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'I Came Back And Made It': Hit-And-Run Victim To Run Chicago Half Marathon

CHICAGO (CBS) -- For about a year, CBS 2 has followed the progress of a crime victim who is now using his improving health to motivate others.

Matt Creedon was the victim of a 2018 hit-and-run that left him with serious injuries including broken pelvis and rib that led to a medically induced coma.

Now, he's not running from his past. His past is running with him.

He said he "died for a few minutes."

"It's pretty emotional just thinking you could be gone like that at any time," Creedon said in 2018.

Last year, CBS 2 met Creedon at the hospital. He was rushed there Nov. 8.

"I don't remember anything," Creedon said.

He was working near Lombard and Roosevelt in Oak Park, helping his mom at Associated Tire and Battery, when he was hit by a driver -- shattering parts of his body and his short term memory.

"I had to have emergency open-heart surgery," he said.

At this point the only running he was doing was running up medical bills in the hundreds of thousands.

The driver was never found, and unless there's additional information, Oak Park police say the active investigation is suspended.

"There's no reason I should be alive right now," he said. "I came back and made it, and now hopefully I can take this second chance that I've gotten."

He wants to thank everyone who helped him and inspire them, so they know their help wasn't "for nothing."

"I've been doing great. I've lost like 45 pounds. I ran like five miles the other day," he said.

Now this victim of a hit-and-run hopes to run in the Chicago half marathon.

His goal is to finish around the average time, which is about two hours.

"How much more inspiring can it be if we can be better than average?" Creedon said. "If I can be better than average after everything I've been through, there is no reason that anyone else cannot, no matter what's in your way."

Creedon says he's forgiven the driver who hit him and says that's part of his healing process.

He'll be running the Chicago Half Marathon on Sunday.

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