The news that Michael Martinez was getting married on Friday to
Charlotte Garcia, the mother of their five-month-old daughter, was
greeted by his uncle, Alex Solis, with a mixture of joy and sadness.
Joy at the prospect of the union, entered into even amidst the most
difficult of circumstances. And sadness over the ongoing reality that
Martinez, just 24, remains paralyzed from the waist down as a result of
an accident last September at Golden Gate Fields, nine days before his
daughter was born.
As Martinez’s only blood relative in the States, Solis was quick to
be at his nephew’s side at the time of the accident. Since then, Solis
has done what he can, from long distance, to advise with insurance
issues and questions of ongoing treatment and care.
“He’s doing okay,” Solis said. “There have been a lot of people who
have been very generous in helping him. And he’s very lucky he lives in a
state with very good catastrophic insurance.”
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