Laughlin controller visits death's door, returns

  • Published
  • By Joel Langton
  • 47th Flying Training Wing public affairs
Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas --  June 9 was a typical day for Albert Garcia, craving the challenge of training for the next triathlon, marathon or ultra-bike race.

But it was on that day after 7 miles of his 30-mile training ride that his training was taken to a different level, a challenge the retired master sergeant and radar approach controller with the 47th Operations Support Squadron had never experienced.

A hit-and-run driver plowed into the 50-year-old on State Road 277 North, breaking multiple bones including his pelvis into two pieces; his upper left leg; his lower left leg; his left arm in three places, cutting to the bone; both wrists and his spine; not to mention the loads of cuts and scrapes.

The first person to arrive on scene after the hit-and-run driver left the scene was Evelyn Jones, a member of the 47th Maintenance Directorate.

According to the first police officer on the scene, it looked like Garcia's life was limited.

"From other accidents I've seen like this, I seriously didn't think he was going to make it," said Sgt. Jesse Lopez, a Val Verde County Sheriff's office patrol sergeant. "After he'd left in the ambulance, we were cleaning up and I picked up his safety helmet and it was cracked. That's not something people are supposed to survive."

Marisol, his wife of 26 years, was driving home from work when she got a call from Jones.

"She told me to go to the emergency room and the ambulance would be there soon," Marisol said. "Thirty minutes later, a nurse took her into the emergency room and said the ambulance had taken him directly to the airport where a helicopter flew him to San Antonio.

Her 140-mile drive to University Hospital in San Antonio is what nightmares are made of. 

"I was afraid he was going to pass before we got there," Marisol said. Her daughter was so upset and stressed she kept throwing up for fear that she was going to lose her father.

By the time Marisol arrived, Albert was already undergoing the first of many surgeries. The first day was an eight-hour surgery, followed by six-, four- and two-hour surgeries over the next four days as surgeons tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. During the first five days, Marisol never left his side.

"I was afraid something would happen and I wouldn't be there," she said.

During this time, doctors sat the family down for a difficult conversation.

"They told us he'd never walk again," said Marisol. "However, we forgot to tell him."

Garcia didn't really mind at the time since he was in a coma for five days after the accident.

Marisol said initially his family and friends were afraid he was going to come out of his coma mad and bitter.

"It was just the opposite," she said "He focused on being alive and how close he came to losing everything, including his life."

Garcia was an accomplished athlete with numerous ultra-events under his belt. However, the same determination and strength that enabled him to ride a bike for hundreds of miles, or swim, bike and run a triathlon, helped him grind through physical rehabilitation, chasing a goal that was supposed to be impossible.

"Whenever they told me what my next goal was, that's what I'd focus on," Garcia said. That attitude enabled him to move from facility to facility quickly, and back home by Sept 25 on his birthday.

Instead of navigating on his two-wheel bike 30 to 100 miles, it involves rolling along on four wheels.

"We go for a walk and I take the wheel chair," Marisol said. "We try hard not to baby him too much."

But after the first quarter of a mile, he often needs to sit and she pushes him. Every day, he walks a few feet further.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk for a walk can take him several minutes as he has to gently ease his foot over the base of the door and then down the steps.

While Garcia sees himself as just a guy who was fighting for survival, many see him as an inspiration with the medic from the helicopter stopping by a few weeks later, unable to believe he was still alive.

Marisol says it was his Air Force family that really inspires him.

"His leadership has been calling him and checking on him whenever they could," she said. "Then his Airmen made a helmet for him and sent him pictures. He joked that he didn't even realize they liked him."

Going through this ordeal, he realized it wasn't a matter of them liking him, but they were family.

"The unit was taking care of our house, mowing the grass, whatever we needed," he said. "It meant a lot because beforehand, I had friends who I really thought would be there for me.  Now, I realize it's my Air Force family that is there for me."

Throughout the tribulation, his unit was by his and his family's side. When they weren't by their side, the Airmen were taking care of the lawn and the civilians were donating leave.

Senior Master Sgt. John Burgess, RAPCON Chief Controller and 47th OSS superintendent, said it's just part of grooming the next generation of controllers.

"The first day they get boots on the ground here at Laughlin, it is instilled that we are here to take care of each other," said Burgess, who added that Garcia is nearly an icon in his unit. "He's a guy who's been doing it for nearly 30 years and he's got all of our deepest respect and we're going to try and take care of him and his family, because that's the Air Force way."