The Bice family of Shoal Creek Valley has been the beneficiary of some extra giving during this holiday season.

“That’s when you can truly know who your friends are,” Michael Bice said last Saturday. “You always got a lot of people that talk and, they’re gonna do this or whatever, but in times of need, the people that show up ... there’s still a lot of good people in this world.”

Some of those “good people” were on hand at Michael’s home last weekend in Shoal Creek Valley, near Ragland, pitching in to build a ramp and deck onto their home along St. Clair 21. Michael Bice, 45, has been out of UAB hospital only two weeks after a car crash the weekend of the AMP Energy 500 in Talladega left him broken and bruised.

“I was just on my way over to the race, the Talladega race,” he said. “I was going down Highway 77, and a car crossed the median and hit me head-on, right there at the county line between Lincoln and Ohatchee.”

The specifics of the crash, Bice says, aren’t available for discussion, owing to pending legal matters. He says he spent more than 30 days at UAB hospital recovering.

“I’ve had to have, my right ankle had to be completely reconstructed,” he said. “My left foot and ankle had multiple fractures; I’ve got titanium rods and pins in my left femur; I’ve had to have pelvic and hip reconstruction surgery.”

As a result, Bice, who is bed-ridden, needed all the help he could receive. And, according to brother Mark, people were more than willing to volunteer.

“We just asked,” said Mark. “Everybody volunteered to help, any way they can.

“(Some are) from Hardin’s Chapel Church, rest of them are friends, family. It’s mind-blowing, the people that’s helped us. It’s really something.”

Michael and wife Misty have two children — ages 20 and 14 —as well as a one-year-old grandchild. According to Misty, both are on Family Medical Leave for the time being.

“We’re in the process now … there’s a fund that’s gonna be set up at Metro Bank,” she said. “We’re in the process now, I’ve got to meet with the accountant, we’re set up a fund, if you want to donate, you can.

“Because he and I are both – he’s out on FMLA until the doctors say he can go back to work; right now, I’m out on FMLA as well. Things are tight, but we’re getting there.”

And both acknowledge there is still much work to be done.

“I’m pretty much non-weight-bearing for about another four to five months, before I can put any weight whatsoever back on my feet,” Michael said. “And then, after we reach that point, we’ve got several months of rehabilitation, trying to learn to walk again and all that – getting our legs back in shape.

“It beats the alternative. I couldn’t have made it out, and I just have to sit back and realize – and I tell everybody – it’s just the grace of God that I’m here. I give God all the glory that I’m still here, wasn’t hurt any worse than what I am. Through His strength, and one day at a time, it’s gonna be OK.”

Like her husband, Misty says she’s happy to have the support they’ve received so far.

“There will never be any way that we can ever thank the people for what they’ve done already, for what they’re doing now,” she said. “The words ‘thank you’ just seem too little, for what this means for us, for Michael especially, to be able to get out and on pretty days, be able to go outside and enjoy sitting outside.”