Paralysis not going to stop area man

There’s no hesitation for Matthew Garcia when he’s asked what’s the worst day of his life. “July 26, 2008,” Garcia said. On that morning, Garcia woke up with no sensation in his legs. Thinking he had slept wrong, Garcia waited a few moments to let blood rush back to his legs.

When that didn’t occur, Garcia rolled out of bed to call 9-1-1. He was rushed to a hospital and after a battery of tests, he was ultimately diagnosis with transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder that inflames areas around the spine. It can cause paralysis. For Garcia, it left him paralyzed from the waist down.

It was a mind-boggling revelation considering he had completed his seventh marathon only six months earlier.

“I thought it was a nightmare because it was so unreal,” Garcia said. “How in the heck do you go completely paralyzed from the waist down when you go to bed and wake up in a matter of five hours?”

Garcia, 39, has endured thousands of hours of rehabilitation and has reached the point where he can use his legs with the aid of a walker for short distances.

A few months ago, he decided to ratchet up his rehabilitation by preparing to compete in the wheelchair division in the Humana Rock ’n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon set for Sunday.

“I’ve had to make peace with the reality that I probably won’t be able to live a normal life,” Garcia said. “But I’ve never truly made peace that I will never compete in another marathon.”

Garcia has been preparing for the marathon for three months after obtaining a racing wheel

chair through the South Texas Regional Adaptive and Para Sports (STRAPS), a sports program that works with Morgan’s Wonderland.

“It would mean a lot if I could achieve this,” Garcia said.

Going the distance

Garcia delved into distance running after he was cut as a receiver for Reagan’s football team in 2000, his senior year.

Several friends on the Rattlers’ cross country team talked him into trying out for their team. Not wanting to stay idle, he did.

“From the start, I ended up just loving it,” Garcia said. “There was something about being outside and running through different neighborhoods and different trails in the parks. It put me in peace all the time.”

Garcia had never run more than a mile before joining the Rattlers’ cross country team. In his first race, he clocked in at 17:15 for 3 miles, a solid time for that distance.

Garcia said he drew his motivation for running from his father, Jose Garcia Jr., a Purple Heart recipient who lost a leg during the Vietnam War.

“He had this never-giveup attitude and to always better yourself,” Garcia said. “I got a lot of that from my father.”

After high school, Garcia began running marathons with his first in San Antonio in 2004. Garcia recalls the pain of running the Marathon of the Americas.

“It was challenging to say the least, and I remember my entire body was in pain,” Garcia said. “I thought that was the last time I was going to do that. I was in absolute pain and struggle, but once I crossed that finish line and put that finisher’s medal around my neck, it did something to me and brought the energy back.”

Garcia ran six other marathons with the last in 2007. He was signed up to compete in the inaugural Rock ’n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon in 2008.

But he never got there.

‘Worst day of my life’

Garcia, who was working as a manager at a sporting goods store, asked he could leave work early on July 25, 2008.

He was feverish and his stomach was churning. Garcia thought he was coming down with a stomach bug. Since he had to open the store the following day, he wanted a chance to rest.

“I thought all I needed was some Gatorade, some water and a good night’s rest,” Garcia said. “As it turned out, that was not the case.”

The next morning, after waking to find he couldn’t feel anything in his legs, he rolled out of bed, dropping to the floor. He crawled with his arms across his room to call 9-1-1. He was told paramedics were on their way.

“There’s some comedy in this,” Garcia said. “I used my arms to crawl to the door to reach up and unbolt the door because I am also thinking about my security deposit. I thought they might kick down the door and mess up the hinge.”

He unbolted the lock but collapsed right near the door.

“They actually nailed me in the head with the door,” Garcia said.

In the ambulance, Garcia called several co-workers to let them know what happened.

“This isn’t a joke,” Garcia said. “I am paralyzed. Someone needs to go and open the store.”

At the hospital, he had X-rays, an MRI and a spinal tap done.

“The doctor didn’t spare anything,” Garcia said. “He told me straight up it was going to hurt. They had all these guys propping me up and holding me down, and I’m bracing myself. I’m nervous. I’m scared.”

Garcia was bewildered when the doctor told him they were finished.

“I didn’t feel a thing; and at that moment, I knew this was bad,” Garcia said.

After he was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, treatment began immediately. Garcia said the condition had begun in his toes and worked its way up his body. He said he could have died had it reached his lungs or heart.

He was treated with steroids to stop the inflammation around his spine. He also underwent a treatment called plasmapheresis where the plasma in his blood is filtered and re-entered into the body.

Garcia was in ICU for two weeks and at the hospital for three months. He moved to Houston to live with his sister Michelle, a nurse. He ended up going through most of his physical rehabilitation there before finally moving back to San Antonio.

“I thought since I was young and healthy and that I took care of myself, I thought it would be something I would be out of the next day,” Garcia said. “But then the next day came and then it turns into the next few days and then it turns into a month and then when you are not getting any better, reality hits. You are not getting any better, dude.”

Garcia said he went through a deep depression.

“My personality changed because my life changed so much,” Garcia said.

In 2014, his mother, Juanita Garcia, died a day after surgery on her chest and stomach. His father died of cancer in 2019. While he said he is in a better mental state now, he does go through bouts of mental struggle.

“Truth be told, sometimes I am just like life in general,” Garcia said. “We have our ups and downs. Highs and lows. There are some days I wake up and I’m already in bad back pain, and it’s hard to get out of bed. But there are those days, I feel the energy has come back as I get into my wheelchair.”

The energy levels are high these days as he prepares for his eighth marathon. After running his last marathon when he was 25, he wants to complete his next one before he turns 40 on May 7.

“It’s been 14 years since I’ve competed in a marathon,” Garcia said. “It would (mean) so much if I could complete it. It would have made the struggle worth it. There were a lot of dark days, and it would mean a lot.”