Young Chef Cheats Death, Looks Toward Future

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Most people who buy a breakfast sandwich at Mad Subs on Madison Avenue probably don't know anything about the guy behind the counter.

"Jacob was never supposed to walk or talk again," said Mark Effrig, Jacob's father.

Mark owns the sub shop, but his son Jacob is the creator of their signature morning meal.

"He'll never be 100 percent, but Jacob is determined to get his life back and do the best he can in school," said Mark.

The 26-year-old defied the odds by coming back from a horrific car accident that killed his best friend in 2010.

"Broke my neck twice, a lot of other things," said Jacob.

The friends were on their way to pay tribute to Jacob's brother, who was killed in a car wreck years earlier.

"The same exact day, [June 30, 2005]. Jake's accident happened [June 30, 2010], almost to the hour," said Mark.

Jacob was in a coma for months and suffered a stroke after having a bad reaction to a medication.

"The best part about dying in a hospital, start you right up again," said Jacob.

However, that wasn't the first time Jacob had a brush with death. In 2005, he was a passenger in another serious crash.

"I died at the scene. Both my lungs were collapsed," Jacob recalled.

Now with just some lingering short-term memory loss, Jacob knows he's here for a reason.

"For all I know, I went up and hung out with my brother for a second. He said, 'By the way, you're not done yet' and sent me back down," said Jacob.

With clear goals in mind, he's looking only to the future.

"My two beautiful little girls, that's the reason, I believe, that I'm living still," said Jacob.