Secret Service agent determined to walk again after N.H. crash
BOSTON -- Less than two weeks after a serious car accident left him paralyzed, the fiancée of Secret Service agent Garrett FitzGerald is hopeful, CBS Boston reports.
FitzGerald, 30, was one of four agents injured when another driver hit them head-on while on official duty in New Hampshire December 29th. According to New Hampshire State Trooper Lt. Kevin Duffy, "there were no improper actions on the part of the agents."
Joan Lyall, 28, vividly remembers the phone call she received.
"It was Garrett telling me there had been an accident and I was the best thing that had ever happened to him and then he loved me... I knew that he couldn't feel his legs and I had to get to him, and I knew I needed to get there as fast as I could," said Lyall.
The couple moved to Boston last September where they both began new careers.
"I fell in love with his eyes and I fell in love with his smile and I see him in the hospital room, and he could have said so many things, and I walk in and he says, 'Hey babe!' I knew we were going to find a way to get through this," said Lyall.
FitzGerald suffered a serious spinal cord injury. Initially, he couldn't feel anything below his shoulders.
"He's regaining. Every day, he's doing a little bit more. He's moving his right arm, which is exciting. Little victories," Lyall rejoiced.
After a nine-year courtship, the couple was set to marry in two months.
"It's going to be my dream come true, it really is. Whether it's on March 4th or not," Lyall said.
FitzGerald will eventually be transferred from Massachusetts General Hospital to a rehabilitation center in either Boston or New Jersey.
"He is and always will be the best person I've ever met," said Lyall.
Friends have set up a fundraising page for Garrett's medical costs.