---
title: Rebounding in Life After Accident and Learning to Adapt.Believe.Compete.
description: Jonathan, an ABC Medical Family Member shares his reflections on life since the day of his accident. Plays wheelchair tennis and trains for Tokyo2020
---

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# [Rebounding in Life After Accident and Learning to Adapt.Believe.Compete.](https://www.abc-med.com/abcmedicalblog/rebounding-in-life-after-accident-abc-stories)

 Written by [Işıl Tanyeri](https://www.abc-med.com/abcmedicalblog/author/işıl-tanyeri) | Aug 25, 2017 7:24:51 PM

 

 

My name is Jonathan Alex Villarreal.

I turned 36 on July 19th.  Today is August 24th, 2017. I writing to share my story with you to reflect back on the past 10 years of my life since my tragic accident when I almost didn't survive.

It all happened on a hot summer evening on August 24, 1997.

I was  8:20 PM. I was walking home with a couple friends. We felt adventurous and decided to take a shortcut.

We all got on the railroad tracks: me first, and them behind me.

I decided to try and beat the train and was running on the left side of the rails, because I was trying to get to a small bridge that was about 50 yards ahead of me. That was where I planned to wait for my friends.

With only 10 feet away, I didn’t make it. I was hit head on from behind and was knocked 30 feet in the air. Since I was jogging on the left side of the ties, I was able to land on the left side of the tracks. Later, I found out the train was going at a much higher speed than what it was supposed to.

I hope I can finally see why the Lord has kept me here on earth. I’ve told this story a hundred times and I still can’t believe what I have overcome in life. That accident wasn't the end. 

At the end of September 2016, soon after I was introduced to wheelchair tennis I was hospitalized from a medical accident. I was admitted into Katy Memorial on November 14, 2016 to Jan 6, 2017.

Apparently, the ER gave me an IV antibiotic called Zosyn, which I was allergic to and that made my kidneys shut down to 10%. I was put on Dialysis for about 2 weeks, I fought for my life (**yet again**!) and by the Grace of God, my kidneys slowly started working again. 

After getting out the hospital, I still needed to recover while on steroids for another month. 

 

At the end of January, I finally got back to practicing wheelchair tennis. In such short amount of time, I feel like I have made great progress. 

Now that I see how precious life is, I’ve set high goals for myself and decided to try and be the best **Quad Open player in the world, **and hopefully wear Team USA on my chest in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Thus, I practice hard and give everything I got in each and every practice.

 While I'm working for a DME Supply company part-time, I’m taking college courses at ***Lone Star College** *for Business Administration. Soon, I’m going to be working as a Brand Ambassador for a new Wheelchair Company coming out in 2018. I’m really excited about that, and I hope it will be successful.

It's all about Adapt.Believe.Compete. #adaptbelievecompete 

 

Share your story. 

 

[View full post](https://www.abc-med.com/abcmedicalblog/rebounding-in-life-after-accident-abc-stories)

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