PHOENIX • It will be a special Christmas for the family of a University of Arizona student who was nearly taken off life support before awakening from a coma.

Sam Schmid, 21, was walking and speaking Friday at a Phoenix hospital. Dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, he was able to use a walker and talk in brief sentences.

"Right now, I'm feeling all right ... except for the rehabilitation, I'm feeling pretty good," Schmid said.

Doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute say Schmid has a long recovery ahead of him to regain full speech, balance and memory abilities.

On Oct. 19, Schmid was involved in a car crash in Tucson, Ariz., leaving him with a brain aneurysm, among other life-threatening injuries. Because of the complexity of his brain injury, Schmid was flown to Phoenix.

He underwent surgery performed by Dr. Robert Spetzler. With no responsive signs, staff discussed taking Schmid off life support.

But after an MRI scan showed that Schmid wasn't at a point of no hope of survival, Spetzler recommended keeping him alive for one more week.

On Oct. 24, Schmid shocked doctors by following commands to hold up two fingers.

"It may not seem like a lot to you," Spetzler said. "It's an incredible loop to show brain ability. That was like fireworks going off."

Since then, Schmid has been spending his days in physical rehabilitation. Dr. Christina Kwasnica, who is overseeing Schmid's rehabilitation, said he had gone from practicing sitting in a chair to doing rehab three hours a day. She described his recovery so far as amazing but hesitated to make any predictions of what "normal" would be for him.

"It's so early in Sam's injury. We have no idea where the ceiling is," Kwasnica said.