Growing up, Marcus Sanchez Jr. played football, basketball and baseball. And often, you’d find him running in Memorial Park or biking along the bayou. But his favorite activity and most cherished role is being a father to his six-year-old daughter and his two-year old son.
“Being a dad is my main focus,” he says.
He’s fortunate he’s able to spend time with his fiancée and his family following a terrible car accident that nearly took his life on Aug. 23, 2022.
Sanchez was on his way home from an emergency plumbing call. He was driving on I-610 South Loop and remembers looking in his rear-view mirror when he saw headlights rapidly approaching from behind.
“I’m in the middle lane and the South Post Oak exit is coming up,” he recalls. “This driver was in the fast lane. At the last minute the driver cut across all traffic lanes to take the South Post Oak exit. In doing that, he tapped my car and made me lose control.”
Sanchez remembers trying to gain control of his car and his car coming off the ground. What he doesn’t remember is his vehicle rolling over and him being ejected from his car. His only memory is seeing the ambulance and his arm covered in blood.
Quickly rushed to Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital where staff intubated him and took him to get a CT scan where they found he had multiple fractures—skull, left femur, right tibia and fibula, hip socket, ribs, facial, collarbone, right scapula, cervical spine—and pulmonary contusions and a carotid artery injury.
Sanchez was admitted to the hospital’s trauma surgical intensive care unit and was given multiple blood transfusions. Once stabilized, he underwent a cerebral angiogram to evaluate his right internal carotid artery injury. Days later, he had surgery on his femur where he has “a lot of screws and plates holding him together.”
He also had additional surgery for his hip, tibia and collarbone. Nearly a month after his accident, he was discharged to a rehabilitation facility.
“It was tough trying to deal with all the injuries,” he says. “I questioned if I was ever going to get back to how I was. I kept hope and faith and I left it in God’s hands because I know with him all things are possible. I’m glad God’s given the [doctors] the talent they have by guiding their hands in surgery. It takes a team and I feel really blessed to still be here and see my kids grow up. This accident really changed my life in many ways and it really opened my eyes to realizing what’s more important in life and how you spend your time.”
Sanchez says it’s hard not being able to do what he used to, but he is determined to get back to where he was so he can be an active dad and attend sports games again.