Soccer Coach Miraculously Walks Again After Stroke

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

On Monday, November 26, the Nikki Rowe High School in McAllen, Texas, experienced one of the most emotional moments in its history. The football team's coach, Manuel Manny García, stepped on the school grounds for the first time in four years after suffering a stroke that put him on the verge of death.

Born on February 20, 1956 in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Coach Manny stood out as a beloved instructor at that institution.

In January 2014, he began to suffer a series of migraines, which he had never suffered before. "I was taking Tylenol and then it passed," she says in an interview with People en Español. The day he suffered a stroke he devoted himself to mowing the lawn at home, but a severe headache sent him to bed.

What followed next was a true nightmare for the Garcia family. His wife came home to find her bedridden, motionless husband. "What happened … I have no idea," she says.

He was immediately transferred to a local clinic where after an evaluation it was determined that his situation was much more serious. Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen welcomed him and soon to undergo an emergency operation. The process in question was high-risk cerebral intravascular surgery. Their chances of survival were one in 100 people.

"They were endless emotions for months," his wife, Aracely García explained tearfully. "Towards March he began to recover his functions a little, but he did not even remember his birthday."

"He spent six hours in an operating room and when they took him out to do the ultrasound and check the progress, the doctor told me: 'Gee, this man is a real fighter'", exclaims Sally, as they call his wife affectionately.

In the rehabilitation process, Sally was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had to stop working. Fortunately, she has been cancer-free for two years.

Manny and Sally García with their four children and their little grandson

"I know my husband and we knew he was not going to give up," continues Sally. "It has not been easy".

“I have worked for seventeen years as a physical therapist, but I will tell you one thing: this family does not know how to surrender. It is simply a story that touches your heart,” Michael Auer, who helped Manny in his recovery, excitedly told People en Español. “Here in the Rio Grande Valley, family comes first, that's the culture, people support each other. And this is a story that will continue to evolve."

García recovered almost miraculously after extensive therapies and thanks to a kind of external skeleton called EksoGT, which is placed in patients to help them regain mobility. "It is ideal for patients who have suffered strokes," explains Auer. "Manny started using the EksoGT when he was already in rehab around March 2017. It is like a robotic smart mechanism that was designed to help people like him."

Thanks to this incredible device and his tenacity, García has been able to return to his beloved school as an assistant coach. "I didn't even know what to expect," recalls García of that November day. "I had goals: walk, then run, and then get my job back," he says.

Despite all the setbacks of life, Manny does not give up: "I want to run a marathon," he says confidently. "I am Superman," he laughs. "When I suffered the spill in the ambulance I saw a light and heard a voice that said to me:" Things will get more difficult before they start to improve, but with your hard work and my help you are going to get ahead, "recalls García. The voice, he says, came from Jesus Christ. "That is why I am so persistent." Without a doubt, a miracle.