Matt Small, a Levittown resident who fell ill with sepsis while visiting family in Ireland last Christmas, is now fully recovered and has a new appreciation for life, writes JD Mullane for the Bucks County Courier Times.

Last year, Small was comatose for a month as doctors frantically worked in a lab to try and create the antibiotics to attack the virus.

His family, who kept vigil at the hospital, were informed that he was “the sickest person in Ireland.”

Today, he is feeling excellent. He is lifting weights again and fully enjoying life. But some things have changed.

“I’m more motivated to make things have meaning,” he said.

He now has a new respect for time and does not want to waste any.

“I want to try a lot more things,” said Small. “Instead of pushing off ideas because I don’t think I’m capable of them, I’m now taking steps to move forward with them.”

A professional graphic designer, he is also now considering changing his job.

“I’ve realized that life is too short to be sitting under fluorescent lights for eight hours a day,” he said.

Read more about Levittown’s Matt Small and his new outlook on life at the Bucks County Courier Times.