Houston Strong - Man who escaped house fire shows new resiliency

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- All of us have been knocked down and disappointed in life, but imagine being stuck in a rut for 14 years? That's what happened to one Houston area man, but the story of how he dug himself out offers a lesson to all of us.

August is Robert Campbell's first month managing the Goodwill store in Piney Point Village. It's the realization of a goal that at one time might have seen unimaginable.

"My hands tear very easily, I can run them up against a wall and the skin comes right off of them," Campbell began. "At first I didn't consider myself handicapped and I was probably pushing myself too hard not to fail, and probably accepting jobs I probably should not have accepted."

Fourteen years of off and on again unemployment. It stems from a house fire in his teens, in which Robert and his sister were burned. She died, and he was left with severe injuries that still limit his movement and grip.

While raising his children, Robert got jobs, but couldn't keep them. Understandably, depression set in and he felt he was a disappointment to his family.

"It was tough. As a man, I felt like I was letting them down," he said.

But then his granddaughter was born, and he made a decision to get help. Enter Goodwill and mentor David Braddon. Braddon had been briefly incarcerated, and understood the challenges Robert faced reinventing himself.

"He just doesn't let anything keep him down. He doesn't let his disability keep him from the ability to do something," Braddon said.

For his resiliency and reminding us it's never too late to begin again -- we salute Robert Campbell. That's Houston Strong.