SAN ANTONIO – A man who was left paralyzed during a 2011 road rage shooting is seeing some improvement after intense physical therapy.
Eddie Moreno was just 17 when he was shot, but he isn't giving up hope. At 24 years old, Moreno is fighting to live a life that some may take for granted.
"Doctors told me that I wouldn't be able to do a lot of things," said Moreno at one of his weekly rehab sessions.
Moreno was shot in the cheek and the bullet lodged in his neck. Doctors didn't expect him to live through the night.
Even though he was paralyzed from the neck down, the then Alamo Heights High School basketball player has now regained the ability to move his arms on his own.
“My goal was to do what they said I couldn't,” Moreno said.
Twice a week for two hours each session, Moreno undergoes intense physical therapy.
“The entire time he's never in his chair. We’re working on developmental movements, the notion of crawl before you walk,” said Nito Blochlinger, owner of Beyond the Chair.
With five years of treatment, and with the help of trainers, Moreno is doing what was once considered to be impossible.
"We're putting him through range of motion. We're putting him through weight bearing. We're putting him through strength training. We’re putting him through standing, electric stimuli to keep his muscles strong,” Blochlinger said.
The ultimate effort is being put forth by Moreno himself, who refuses to give up.
"It all starts with hard work,” Moreno said.