LIVERMORE FALLS – Susan Metzger, Crystal Richard and their sons say they have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

The sons, Chuck Metzger, 17, of Livermore Falls and James Richard, 17, of Livermore, both Livermore Falls High School seniors, survived a rollover accident after the rear axle separated and the wheels came off the pickup they were riding in.

“It’s very emotional,” Crystal Richard said as she struggled Wednesday to hold back tears and say how thankful she was. “How quick it can change.” Her son put his arm around her.

“Oh, mom,” he said.

The teens were going to help Chuck Metzger’s grandmother, JoAnne Scully, on Monday when Metzger, who was driving, said it felt like his father’s truck had a flat tire as it was going down Moose Hill Road.

“It went all squirrelly on me,” he said. “It started going all over the place. I was losing control. I figured I better put it in a ditch to try and slow us down to stop us. We got in the ditch, but I realized then we were not going to stop so I told James to hold on. I knew something bad was happening, and I just wanted to make sure James was ready for it.”

The truck went in and out of the ditch, and then back in, before it rolled onto its roof.

The teens managed to climb out the windshield, Metzger quicker than Richard who was initially pinned when the roof caved in.

“I felt something against both shoulders, I don’t know what it was,” Richard said. “I unclipped my seat belt and crawled under the roof to the other side” and managed to get out.

After Susan Metzger was alerted she headed to the scene.

Her son had no injuries, and Richard had a cut on his hand from a small piece of glass.

She isn’t very good with accidents, Metzger said, since her twin brother died in one at 18.

“When I got (to the accident scene) I just gave both boys a hug and asked them if they were all right,” she said. “When I went down to the truck I broke down in tears. I was in total amazement that both boys walked out of this with little to no injuries.

“I’m normally a strong person, and I try not to show emotion but when it’s your own child and one of his friends, I had no control. I could have lost both of these boys. I’ve already thanked God because I really feel God had angels with these kids and spared their lives. To look at the truck, you just can’t imagine anyone lived,” she said.

That’s why she had the truck hauled home to Metzger Lane, off Route 17, where it rests in a field.

“We have so many kids here daily, they think they’re invincible,” she said. “I always tell them ‘no screwing around and just be careful’ before they leave because they’re inexperienced and they just don’t get that,” Metzger said.

She’s hoping kids will get a better understanding of what could happen.

“I want kids to understand that when they’re making choices to speed – this time it was a vehicle malfunction – or go to do parties and drive home, they’re not making a choice just for themselves, if anything happens to them it affects everybody,” she said.

The emergency responders were great at the scene helping the boys and keeping them calm, Metzger said.

“We’re giving thanks this Thanksgiving for having our loved ones with us,” her mother, JoAnne Scully added.