Mom focuses on future after son suffers life-threatening injuries

"'Ma'am, this is the nurse from UNC," said the voice on the other line. "Two little boys have been airlifted here and they've been in a bad car wreck."

Smith asked if one of the boys was hers.

"Ma'am, you need to get up here now," was the answer.

Smith's six-year-old son, Oscar Watson, was riding in a car with his grandmother, Stella Watson, 65, and his three-year-old stepbrother, Aron Watson, on N.C. Highway 24 in Sampson County when Stella Watson crossed the center line and crashed into the back of a tractor trailer.

Smith's son was thrown from the vehicle - through the windshield. He suffered severe head and spinal injuries and is unable to breathe on his own.

Stella Watson has several broken bones and a punctured lung. Aron Watson is doing well.

Troopers said the tractor trailer was not at fault. Charges are pending in the crash, which is under investigation.

Smith is staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill while her son is in the hospital. She expects to be there for the next few months.

"I can't look at the things that are going to happen to him," she said. "I've just got to look at that he's here and I've got another chance."