The cold snap of 2015 was enough to make a person feel frozen to the bone.

And for a local man, that's exactly what happened. But he lived to tell about it.Justin Smith, 25, of McAdoo enjoyed a few beers at the fire hall with friends and began to walk homeward.It was 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 20. His house was only 2 miles away.He was familiar with the territory along Tresckow Road. No big deal.But the ongoing cold snap dropped the mercury to minus 4.While walking, Smith collapsed in the bitter cold air.By the time he was discovered in the snow by his frantic father 12 hours later, he was frozen solid and had no pulse and no blood pressure.He was so cold that paramedics were unable to detect a body temperature."The coroner was called. They put a sheet over him," said father Don Smith in a video interview about the ordeal.Paramedics on scene from APTS and McAdoo Fire and Ambulance contacted the command center at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton and received orders from Gerald Coleman, DO, to begin CPR. A code blue was called and 15 staffers at the hospital waited in the emergency room to deliver continuous CPR.Smith was transferred by air medical to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.Thanks to that smart approach by first responders and a determined, forward-thinking response by the staff of Lehigh Valley Health Network, Smith survived.Along the way, he made medical history. He is believed to be the record setter for having lowest body temperature ever to survive hypothermia.Today, Smith is close to a complete recovery.On Monday, he'll have a chance to meet with doctors, nurses and paramedics who saved his life when he visits the hospital campuses in Hazleton and Allentown where staffers at both facilities refused to let him die."My first memory was waking up at Cedar Crest and seeing my Mom and two sisters," said Smith in a video produced by the hospital network.Part of the miracle that saved Smith involved more than two hours of CPR followed by a procedure called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a technology typically used as a last-ditch effort to save patients whose lungs and heart are damaged by the flu or a heart attack.Smith still deals with the effects of gangrene. He lost two fingers and all of his toes. But he's alive.See next week's Times News for an in-depth look at Smith's extraordinary journey from the brink of death.