MCLOUD, Okla. (KFOR) – A 20-year-old said he has a new perspective and lease on life after he was hit head-on in an alleged drunk driving crash exactly eight months ago.

“Sometimes in life, it takes getting destroyed in order to be built back up properly again,” said Jeremy Cooper.

On April 21, 2021, Cooper was hit head-on by a drunk driver while coming home from work late at night. At the time, Cooper was 19-years-old.

“I don’t remember being in the car, other than like the sudden flashback of my right arm on the steering wheel,” he said. “ And [the driver] just eventually just kind of turned straight into me on the driver’s side, just kind of like completely shredded the driver’s side of my car.”

Cooper said dying that night was not in the plans. Two couples who happened to be on the country road that late at night stopped to help him and call 911. The witnesses flagged down another EMSA unit that had a patient in the cab whose condition was not life-threatening. Those medics were able to stop the bleeding until his ambulance came, then he was rushed to OU Health in Oklahoma City.

Once inside, the then 19-year-old was put on a ventilator. His left femur and shin were shattered.

“They actually thought they were going to have to amputate my left leg. And they thought they would have to remove my left eye too. I just I have no vision, but at least I still have it,” he said.

Cooper spent five weeks at the hospital, one of them was in the intensive care unit. However, Cooper told KFOR he only remembers the last two weeks of his visit.

Before the crash, Cooper said he was suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. Lying in the hospital bed, all of that changed after hearing a still small voice.

“It told me the entirety of the car crash, ‘This is for your testimony and to heal your mind,’” Cooper told News 4. “It was like it was speaking in cursive. Everything was just perfect.”

“I would lose another eye if it meant I got to have another time with God.”

Since then, Cooper’s top priority has shifted to his faith.

“It’s the only thing in my entire life to help me grow in so many different ways,” he said. “I think it is a 100 percent advantage.”

While recovering from other wounds and going through physical therapy, Cooper is also sharing his testimony and speaking out against drunk driving. He said he knows every piece of the puzzle fit for a reason.

“I know it was God. That’s the only way that I’m here right now. And for everything to be so perfectly orchestrated the way it was, it’s like there’s no way that nothing else was there that night,” Cooper said.

Cooper said because of his lost vision, he actually has opportunities to go to college thanks to State Rehabilitation Services.

He also told News 4 he wants to start sharing his testimony and the dangers of drunk driving to kids in schools.