BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Michael Schrader’s 2006 holiday season was spent in dreams, while his parents’ worst nightmares were realized.

Schrader sustained massive injuries from a single-car crash outside of Silverdale Nov. 24 when Mother Nature’s freezing temperatures mixed with a midnight drive to black out the 17-year-old’s 12 days of Christmas … and then some.

Following a medically induced coma that lasted more than three weeks, a plethora of surgeries and a more than a month-long stay at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, he returned to Kitsap County at the beginning of 2007.

With his parents George and Janice at his side along with numerous messages of support from friends and family on posters and in pictures decorating the room, nearly his entire body is mending back together.

Pointing to one of his hospital room posters that says “You’re our ninja, Michael,” and noting where he finds strength, Schrader said, “All of the support … like all of those people on that poster, they have all visited me.”

A senior honor student at North Kitsap High School and a Running Start student at Olympic College, Michael said some of his favorite things include hanging out with those friends, watching movies and “anything ninjas.”

Little did he know, his passion for stealth would one day help him evade death.

On the eve of Black Friday, Schrader — riding shotgun — and three others — ages 16, 17 and 17 — were driving toward Silverdale at 1:30 a.m. to take advantage of early Christmas shopping sales.

En route, the group changed its plans, deciding to turn around and exited onto the Mountain View Road overpass of State Route 3. While traveling across the overpass, the car hit a patch of ice, slid into the guard rail, bounced back into a powerpole and flipped over onto its roof. While three of the passengers escaped with minor injuries, Schrader took the brunt of the blow.

He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where doctors treated him for a crushed hip, a crushed pelvis, broken ribs, arms, collarbone and a broken right femur. However, the most problematic complications were in his head (where he needed a hole in his skull to relieve pressure on his brain) and his chest (where he was treated for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome — a sudden, life-threatening lung failure).

After speaking with the chief surgeon who treated his son, Schrader’s father George said, “He basically said … ‘Only someone with Michael’s strength and youth had a prayer of making it all.’”

With just a 60 percent chance of survival, Schrader recovered from the ARDS, a bacterial infection and a gall bladder infection.

“The doctors, the nurses and lots and lots of prayers got him around that corner,” George said of the ARDS. “It was kind of a struggle for a while, but that was the crucial turning point. It’s still quite a miracle that he made it, because there are plenty of people who don’t.”

Now at the Bainbridge Island Rehabiltation Center, Michael is counting his blessings and asking the unanswerable question of “why?” as community support fuels his recovery.

Numerous visits, kind thoughts and words have aided him, while generous donations and gestures have allowed his parents to be by his side throughout.

“We’ve gotten all kinds of support from the church and the community at large as well,” George said.

“Even strangers,” Michael’s mother Janice added.

St. Olaf’s Church, where the family attends mass, provided the couple with a room in Seattle for the duration of Michael’s stay at Harborview and even delivered Christmas gifts to them. And now, Michael’s friends who visit him pass on good spirits as well.

“Thank you so much … I can’t thank you enough,” Michael said to them.

“You really can’t put it into words, but I’m with him on that,” George added. “Without the community’s support … it would’ve been almost impossible with all the different setbacks that we’ve had along the way.”

And still, there is a long way to go, the Schraders agree, with the process of physical therapy looming ahead, along with a multitude of medical bills.

With that in mind, an account has been created for the Schraders at Washington Mutual Bank. Amyone wishing to donate can do so in the name of the George, Janice and Michael Schrader Fund.