High school student paralyzed in bike accident leaving hospital

MISSOURI CITY, Texas (KTRK) -- Marco Cruz should be in class at Ridgepoint High School.

The sophomore should be hanging out with his ROTC buddies. Instead, he is paralyzed from the waist down.

"I remember going through a windshield," Cruz said.

Marco was hit by a car while riding his bike in Missouri City last month and life flighted to the Memorial Hermann Red Duke Trauma Institute.

"I saw him in the ER laying on the table was the hardest thing to see just as a father," Mario Cruz said.

Marco went through surgeries that added metal poles near his spine and screws in his ankle.

"All the pain I've gone through, I'm surprised I've gotten through it. And I'm surprised they've gotten through it too."

Marco's parents say the driver who hit Marco did not stop to help, but someone else did. The family had recently returned to church.

"I had a phone call from the pastor and said that he had no idea that was my son. He had stopped to pray over him. He was a witness to the accident," his mother said.

Prayer and positivity are what Marco credits to his success in rehab so far. But, still, he's human.

"There are some days I'm down because I can't feel my legs, can't feel from my waist down, but it's all right. My legs are twitching."

Marco's doctor updated ABC13 on his progress.

"Most recovery occurs in the first three to six months corresponding with swelling," said Dr. Lisa Wenzel, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at TIRR Memorial Hermann.

Those are encouraging words for a young man set on one thing: "I pray to the Lord to help me get through my leg pain and to walk again. I got things to do."