PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — With each step, Marty Miller fights through the pain.
“I can’t allow myself to have a bad day,” Miller said.
He’s out of a wheel chair and walking six months after being hit by a car while riding his bike and training for a triathlon.
“When I was under the car my first thought to myself was oh God he doesn’t know I’m under here don’t let me die, and I started to say the Our Father,” Miller recalled.
Marty was dragged 45 feet near Persimmon Boulevard and State Road 7 near Royal Palm Beach on Sept. 30. He suffered a fractured pelvis, ruptured bladder, road rash, and he broke his neck, back, and rib cage.
“I could feel everything, I could feel my toes, I could feel myself wanting to move. Nothing would, but I could feel it wanted to,” Miller said.
Marty was flown to the hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries. Miller’s wife, Kelly, says it was hard to comprehend.
“We’ve been married now for almost 20 years and Marty has never been sick, the worst he’s had is strep throat,” Kelly said.
WPTV featured the Boca Community Middle PE teacher this past summer after donating a kidney to a complete stranger. Marty was cleared by his doctor to start training again when he was hit.
In the days and weeks since the crash, Miller says the community made his progress possible. Friends, coworkers and neighbors offered up prayers, made meals and even gave the Millers a place to live.
They had to move from a three-story home in Wellington to a single-story in Boca Raton so he could get around in his wheelchair. A parent at school also made a blanket for Marty while he was in the hospital, and students and co-workers sent cards and offered up sick days.
Now, Miller is saying thank you, and trying to pay it forward with positivity and determination.
“I got a big responsibility to give back because all they done for me, so I have to push myself a little bit harder,” Miller said.
Marty has been cleared to swim and use a stationary bike. His goal is to complete another triathlon, and hopes to return to school after Spring Break.
