Paralyzed veteran eyes own rehab center

Before it happened, Romulo Romy Camargo spent his days and nights loaded down with a hundred pounds of body armor, weapons and ammo, slogging through steamy South American jungles and driving through dusty Afghan valleys.

As a chief warrant officer for the Green Berets in 7th Special Forces Group, Camargo helped train Colombian troops to fight drug traffickers and survived deadly firefights, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

Then came the shot that did not miss.

I got hit in the back of the neck, says Camargo, 38, sitting in a motorized wheelchair strapped into the passenger side of a specially equipped van heading to Orlando, where he is fighting a new battle, against the injury that has left him paralyzed from the shoulders down and in need of breathing assistance since being hit by a snipers bullet on Sept. 16, 2008.

For the past 18 months, that battle has meant four-hour roundtrips from his New Tampa home twice a week for three hours of intensive therapy at Project Walk Orlando, a spinal cord injury rehabilitation center. But while the sessions are productive, giving Camargo hope, helping him restore some movement and maintaining the health of the rest of his body, the constant travel is grinding him down.

Seeing the wear and tear on her family, especially her husband, Gaby Camargo devised what the military would call a new concept of operations in the campaign to get Camargo back on his feet.

Instead of spending so many hours on Interstate 4, the couple, with Gaby the driving force, is working to create a spinal cord injury rehabilitation center near their home. The center will cater to civilians as well as veterans and greatly reduce the stress of commuting.

But first Gaby had to convince her husband to take that leap.

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On the coldest morning of the new year, Gaby Camargo, 38, is putting the last touches on the hours-long process of getting her husband ready to make the long biweekly trek. She adjusts a wool cap with the Green Beret logo on his head, making sure it fits properly, and gives him a kiss.

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Paralyzed veteran eyes own rehab center