"For it being almost a week from happening, I'm blessed to be where I am," Rhodes says.
A week that feels like a lifetime. Last Tuesday, Michael, a Raleigh firefighter, was working his second job for a tree-cutting service along Skycrest Drive when a car went around stopped traffic, hitting Michael.
"Walked out, reached up to grab a branch when I got struck, I don't remember being struck, but woke up to the first responders," he says.
Luckily, his co-workers were EMT trained and stayed with him around the clock.
The driver, meanwhile, still hasn't been caught. Police have been sharing a picture of the Chrysler 200 with passenger side damage and a missing mirror.
Michael hopes it's a warning for other drivers.
"Take time out of your day to make sure people are ok, a lot of people kept driving when I got hit," he says.
He also says it if he were not wearing a helmet, things could have easily turned tragic.
"It saved my life, I probably wouldn't be standing in front of you if I wasn't wearing it," he says.
He says he's grateful for all the support from the community, and also wants people to remember something as they're on the roads.
"I'm on the road a lot. It's just part of it. And it can be dangerous for sure. I mean, people fly past you, but just take the extra minute. I mean, I get everyone's in a rush to get where they're going, but take your time and just make sure these people, you're in a car, they are not," he says.
There is now a $3,000 reward for any information on the hit-and-run case.
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