SAN ANTONIO – A retired Army veteran went from working as a mentor and substitute principal to having his healthy life turned upside down.
With those dark days, faced with not being able to walk again, came strength, prayer and a positive mindset that got him miraculously back on his feet.
On Feb. 6, Walter Lewis suffered a fall that would end up changing his life forever.
“My hand slipped as I was getting up, and I fell face-first,” Lewis said. “It is hard to look at that spot because it brings back that trauma. I couldn’t move. I busted my lip. I cut my eyebrow open. I had blood pooling. I couldn’t move.”
Lewis was able to call his wife for help, who then called first responders.
When Lewis was in the hospital, he found himself on an operating table for hours in emergency spinal cord surgery.
“When I came in, I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move. I was quadriplegic,” he said. “Doctors were coming in, assessing every day, letting me know it is going to be a challenge and saying, ‘You are going to be a quadriplegic.’ I didn’t want to hear that. I told them I am going to beat this thing.”
With his positive attitude, Lewis was determined to move.
“I started getting movement in my wrist and then my torso and my legs,” Lewis said. “The doctor came in and said, ‘You are doing good.’ I said, ‘Doc, come Monday, I am going to shake your hand.’ When he walked in Monday, I held up my arm, and I shook his hand. He said, ‘This is miraculous!”
At that point, Lewis said the doctor said it was time for rehab.
“I told him,” he said. “I said, ‘Doc, I have a remix for you. That Amy Winehouse song. Told me to go to rehab and I said yeah, yeah, yeah!”
Lewis said he checked into the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital on Feb. 12 and checked out on March 18.
“I walked out of that bad boy like a stallion! I was very proud, but very humble,” Lewis said.
Outside of all the physical therapy, Lewis credits his positive attitude as the medicine that made his recovery possible.
“When times get hard, don’t quit. Don’t give up because everyone goes through things,” he said. The keyword is going ‘through.’ Because when you go through, you come out on the other side.”
Lewis said he’s excited to get back to working in the North East Independent School District and South San ISD. He wants to motivate students not only as an assistant principal, but also as a positive mentor.
“You can preach it all day, but if someone sees you and you are not using it, that’s not good,” Lewis said. “You have to talk the talk and walk the walk.”
Every other day, Lewis walks. He walks 1.5 miles to get stronger. He said there are dark days, but with prayer and positivity, he refuses to stop now.
“If you think positive thoughts and do positive things, you can have a positive day!”
Lewis now plans to walk a 5K during the Memorial Day Run happening at the Lady Bird Johnson Park on Saturday, May 23. He plans to walk a 10K for his next goal.
“If you are going through a hard time, know that you can make it,” Lewis said. “It is going to be hard, but if you keep thinking positively and believe in yourself, you can do it. If I can do it. You can do it. Anybody can do it.”