RallyNorth.net

Teen shows fighting—and team—spirit after disabling accident

Tuesday, February, 05 By Amanda McGregor
Staff writer

Gregory Martinez accomplished something yesterday that his parents never thought could happen six months after a bicycle accident that left the teenager with severe brain and spinal injuries.

Greg was back in the Salem High School gymnasium, surrounded by friends and cheering on his basketball teammates. He was the star of the show, joking with his parents and his coach Tom Doyle, and dribbling a basketball with his left hand from his wheelchair.

"It's so great to be back," said Greg, who was wearing his uniform: No. 22. "To be here in my uniform -- and to see the girls," he said with a huge smile.

"His sense of humor is certainly not lacking," said Doyle. Greg, 16, is still at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, but comes home for daytime visits on the weekend. This was his first trip back to Salem High, where he made the varsity basketball team last year as a freshman.

"It's just like old times," said Danny Byors, 17, who is on the varsity team and grew up with Greg. Danny pushed Greg around the gym yesterday and to and from the locker room. "I never thought he'd be here and able to enjoy it and interact and know what's going on around him," said his mother, Naomi Francisco, gazing at her son with a smile.

Among Greg's friends who surrounded him yesterday was Richard Hunt, who was riding on the pegs of the bicycle when they collided with a landscaping trailer towed by a city truck on Aug. 15. Richard recovered from a broken arm and other injuries. Neither boy was wearing a helmet.

"It's great seeing him here," said Richard. "He looks normal and his voice is back and he's having the best time."

Coach Doyle, who visits with Greg weekly, said having him at yesterday's game, where the Witches played South Boston High, put everyone in a wonderful mood.

"It's a big lift," said Doyle. "It's amazing to see the progress he's made." Francisco is amazed by her son's progress, too. Greg, the youngest of four children, suffered massive head trauma, a broken neck, a collapsed lung, and spinal and internal injuries, she said. So far, he has regained his speech and can move his head and arms -- and now his legs.

"We encourage him, although it's hard and painful at times, he knows that every single exercise he does will help him get up from the chair and walk again," said his mother as Greg horsed around with his father, Carlos Vargas, pumping fists with each other.

Now, Greg is awaiting placement in a residential facility where he will continue his rehabilitation and his schooling, said his mother. From there, they look forward to eventually bringing him home. It's a struggle for his parents, who have visited their son's hospital bedside practically every day.

"We would love to have him home," said his mother, "but we know it's best for him, medically and educationally. He still needs 24-hour assistance, and structure, occupational therapy, speech therapy."

Francisco's co-workers in the Salem Planning and Community Development Department started a fund in Gregory's name after the accident. It has helped defray the huge cost of gas and tolls from commuting to Boston every day, as well as other expenses.

Greg's parents had just purchased a home in North Salem a few month's before their son's accident, which happened a few blocks away. Now, the family will use incoming donations to buy a special bed and modify the bathroom and other parts of their home for the time when Greg can move home.

"When this happened, I got on my knees and said, 'I will take him back however you give him to me,'" said his mother. "Just seeing him here and now is truly a blessing ... just to look at his face and see him smile back at me."

"It's an amazing story that's not finished," said Doyle. "There is so much more to come."