albert

Veteran's Administration Volunteer
Wheelchair Athlete
Shot: January 12 1984
San Antonio Texas

Why are you doing this to her?

Albert : "I was walking out of a bar, sometime around midnight. I noticed a man and a pregnant lady arguing. I saw the man slap the lady and knock her to the ground. I got a flashback. I loved my dad very much, but I was raised watching my dad beat my mother. It's just bad memories for me. I went over to get the guy to understand, this is wrong! I remember telling him in Spanish, 'Hey, this is not right! Why are you doing this to her?' I remember him saying, 'Okay, okay!' He was a small guy. The lady said, 'Thank you.' A little episode, about a minute and a half. I walked away about eight feet. As I turned to get in my truck I glanced back. I saw the gun, I said, 'Uh oh, I'm in trouble!'

I didn't think I was paralyzed

"I was scared, but there was just no time. The only thing I was able to do was raise my arm. If I didn't raise my arm he probably would have shot me in the head or neck. I remember falling to the ground. I heard them running to their truck, then I heard the ignition, but their truck wouldn't start. They opened the doors and slammed them and I saw them running down the street. I'm lying on the ground but I'm conscious. One of my friends came. Two minutes later the emergency people got there. At the time I didn't think I was paralyzed; I thought I was just shot in the arm. I am paralyzed but I'm an incomplete paraplegic, a T6. The bullet didn't penetrate the whole spine. I was able to retain feeling, I'm able to wiggle my toes.

Where would it end?

"The shooter is so lucky that I thank God for saving my life, and that I didn't take his. My dad wanted to have him wasted and so did my brothers. Here's the Lord helping me, saving my life, and I'm going to order an execution? Where would it end? We shoot one of them, they shot one of us. I decided to just forgive him and let the system take care of him. It didn't do a very good job, he got ten years probation.

I hit bottom

"For the first nine years after the shooting I was very angry, I felt worthless. I had a death wish. I didn't think there was going to be a good life. I got involved with the wrong people. I was taking the little money I had and buying drugs. I hit bottom. I give my mother credit, she never gave up on me. She kept saying, 'There's a reason for this,' but it took me nine years to believe her. I finally decided, why not me? Who do I think I am? The Lord put this on me, and I'm not trying to make it work?

I could be an example

"I do volunteer work at the Veteran's hospital. They consider me healthy; I try to be an example to the newly injured, to make them realize life goes on. In the summer I participate in the National Veteran's Wheel Chair Games, in California. I do the winter sports clinic for disabled people in Colorado. You get out of your wheelchair and get into this sit-ski. They give you poles that are specially made and instruct you. You can be a quad, an amputee, even the blind do it. I've been in the wheel chair nineteen years and I've been in ten of these events, they're amazing. I think the Lord chose me so I could be an example to other people who are injured, even though it's taken me a long time to be one. I believe I have a lot more to do."