Mike Miller had called to thank him. Now he wanted to do so in person.
"I'm in," said Matt's mother.
"I want to go," wrote Matt.
So they drove from the family's vacation home in Wintergreen, Va., where Matt had been recovering, to the doctor's home in Charlottesville.
Tears were streaming before words.
Harris looked at Matt on his front step and said, "I'm having a hard time believing what I'm seeing."
Matt tapped his heart, and gave the doctor a bear hug.
His face was still swollen, and nerve damage made it difficult to smile.
But the last time Harris had seen him, sprawled on the road, the doctor had doubted Matt would make it to the hospital.
Soon Harris and his wife, Mary Ann, a graduate of La Salle University, were recounting everything that had happened that autumn morning.
Matt peppered the Harrises with notes, questions.
At one point, the 60-year-old doctor got down on the floor, lying on his back, arms and feet clenched and extended, showing the position in which he'd found Matt, indicating brain injury.
He got back on the floor, moments later, demonstrating the wrestling-style scissors hold in which Harris had used his own legs to keep Matt from jumping up and running away in a fight-or-flight reaction.
Mary Ann Harris, who had held Matt's hand as her husband worked over him, had wanted to go to the hospital to comfort the cyclist's mother. But Nancy Miller would have had no idea who she was.
After two hours, Matt posed with the Harrises for photos.
Forbidden from speaking, Matt broke the rule.
"Thank you," he garbled through his wired jaw.
Matt made it his mission to thank everyone who sent a card, phoned, or visited.
On Dec. 19, home in St. Davids for Christmas, he wrote to Stephen Park and Jared Christophel, the doctors who had rebuilt his face that first day, starting by lining up the few broken teeth left in his mouth.
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