By Jonathan D. Silver
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
Copyright 2007 P.G. Publishing Co.

PITTSBURGH — Matthew McKnight holds a death-defying world record that not even the most courageous daredevil would seek to break.

Six years ago, Mr. McKnight of Fayette County was struck by a car doing 70 mph along Interstate 376 in Monroeville while he was trying to aid two accident victims.

He was thrown 118 feet — about the height of a 12-story building — and lived to tell the tale.

For his pains, and there were plenty of them, Mr. McKnight became the holder of a Guinness World Records mark in 2003. And just last month he discovered that his feat — unsolicited as it was — finally earned a hard-copy entry in the encyclopedia of superlatives' 2008 edition.

"Greatest Distance Thrown in a Car Accident," trumpets the headline above a brief description.

Mr. McKnight, a paramedic and volunteer firefighter, has some heady company on page 69, including "Largest Tummy Tuck Operation" (132 pounds of fat removed), "Highest Body Temperature" (115.7 degrees), and "Largest Gall Bladder Stone Removed" (7 by 5 by 3.7 inches).

While the record is not exactly the kind of accomplishment anyone would strive for, a Guinness representative did not hesitate to compliment Mr. McKnight upon verifying his winning documentation.

"I am pleased to inform you that you have been successful in setting a new Guinness World Record," the July 2003 letter states.

When Mr. McKnight learned he was included in this year's book, he sent out a mass e-mail.

"He said, 'Feel free to try to break the record if you want,'" recalled his mother, Adele McKnight, who was with him at the accident scene. She said she had heard of Guinness before, but "whoever thought one of my kids would be in it?"

Mr. McKnight asked his wife, Shannon, a nurse at Mercy Hospital, to stock up.

"He told me to go buy 20 so he'd have enough for his book signing," she said.

Mr. McKnight was nominated by Mercy's Dr. Eric Brader, who was the emergency room's attending physician on Oct. 26, 2001, when Mr. McKnight was brought in at death's door with six broken bones.

Dr. Brader could not be reached for comment. But Mr. McKnight noted that the physician has a somewhat different sense of humor. When he learned of the nomination — Dr. Brader presented him with various papers he had to sign — he was right on board with it.

"I thought it was a big joke. Dr. Brader is known for joking around a lot, but when he brought it to me, I saw how serious he was," Mr. McKnight said.

Mr. McKnight, 29, of Connellsville, works full-time at Mercy as a lead communications specialist in the pre-hospital services division. On the night of the accident, he was heading home with his mother along the Parkway East when they came across an overturned pickup truck on the berm.

Mr. McKnight stopped to help, but was struck by a driver, whom he said was eventually convicted of drunken driving.

Eric Poach, a friend and veteran paramedic who had spoken with Mr. McKnight earlier that day, responded to the scene.

"There was about a half an hour there we really weren't sure Matt would live," Mr. Poach said. He popped both of Mr. McKnight's dislocated shoulders back into place and headed for Mercy.

Mr. McKnight remembers nothing but snippets of the first few hours of his ordeal. He spent two weeks in the hospital and another 80 days between two rehabilitation centers. He took his first steps Jan. 14, 2002, and returned to work that April.

"I was devastated. There was talk that I may never walk again," Mr. McKnight said. "I was determined to prove them wrong."

To see Mr. McKnight today, one wouldn't guess that he had once broken his pelvis, shoulder, lower leg and tailbone. He walks without a limp, said he pops only an occasional over-the-counter painkiller and is back to fighting fires and rescuing those in need.

Mr. McKnight said he wouldn't hesitate to stop by the side of the road to help someone again and, in fact, has done so several times.

As for his record, Mr. McKnight is in no hurry to best it — nor, he said, is anyone else.

"It's not something that someone wants to try to beat."