Walker returns to fire service after three-year recovery

BY ALEXANDRIA RANDOLPH/HIGHLAND LAKES NEWSPAPERS

When I arrived at University Medical Center Brackenridge on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013, there was already a crowd gathered in the waiting lobby of the intensive care unit. Horseshoe Bay firefighter and father of three Jeff Walker, who had overturned his pickup truck while traveling home on FM 1980 early that morning, was a friend to many, including one of my own closest friends, who had asked me to go with him to the hospital that morning.

Jim Fiero and Stephanie Black, Horseshoe Bay Fire Chief and Assistant Chief at the time, stiffened as I approached.

“Don't worry, I'm here as a friend today, not a reporter,” I told them, and they seemed to relax.

I sat, seemingly a stranger, amongst Walker's family, friends, and coworkers, all people who loved him, in the waiting area as the surgeons did what they could to mitigate the swelling of his brain through the crack in his skull, and wired his shattered jaw in place. Early on, there was no guarantee he would make it.

We all waited for the word.

Despite the incredible odds, Walker, now 35, made full recovery, to the surprise of his neurologist.

“He said, 'I don't know what to say to you. You have overcome the odds. You weren't supposed to live, then you weren't supposed to walk, now you're asking for release back to work!'” Walker said.

Walker received the OK to return to work in the fall, and after nearly three years, had his first day back in the fire service with Burnet Fire Department on Tuesday. He will serve there on a part-time basis until a full-time position because available there or at a nearby department.

“I'm looking forward to it,” he said of the job. “I'm going to try to ease back into it. It's a whole new department so I'll have to start over learning all the rules. Part of me is anxious. I'm very excited that I'm blessed with this opportunity to do something to help others.”

Walker was let go from his position on the Horseshoe Bay Fire Department due to his injuries, because at the time there was “no way I could have done the things physically or mentally required of a firefighter/EMT,” he said. “No one knew I was going to recover as well as I have.

“I was in a coma for two to three months,” he said. “Then they sent me to neurological rehabilitation in south Austin. I was in in-patient therapy for some time.”

Walker suffered a traumatic brain injury in the wreck, and had to learn how to walk again, something that at first, doctors weren't sure he would do.

“I didn't mean to hurt myself proving to everyone how hard-headed I really am,” he joked about the wreck.

But the damages were no joke. In addition to rehabilitation, Walker underwent plastic surgeries and caught a bout of pneumonia during his hospital stay.

“I would be ok for a little while and then I would have a brain storm,” he said of his therapy. “I wanted to go be by myself.”

After he switched to out-patient therapy, Walker moved in with his parents, who were very supportive of his recovery, which entailed of three rehabilitation therapy sessions in Austin each week. He then went through a driving rehabilitation course through St. David's Medical Center in Austin. He then was able to receive rehab therapy at his home.

Community members held several fundraisers in November 2013 to help pay for the medical care.

Since then, Walker has resumed a relatively normal schedule and has been building mental and physical strength.

“I've been working for my dad doing granite countertops,” he said. “I'm continuing my thinking skills rehabilitation. Going to work is kind of like being at the gym all day long. I give my dad's company and the granite work a lot of credit for my physical ability.”  

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.