Published on Wednesday, March 8, 2006
in the Melbourne Florida Today

Former trooper rebuilding life after highway wreck

VALKARIA - On a recent sunny day, Mark Buchweitz sat in a wheelchair in front of his beloved 1967 Chevelle during a car collectors' show.

He hopes to get back behind the steering wheel of that car. He's getting closer, one step at a time.

He has traveled a long way from a horrible accident on Interstate 95 three and a half years ago.

A drunken driver slammed into the car he was driving, flipping it nine times. He suffered severe nerve and muscle damage.

"I was told I would never walk," said Buchweitz, an auxiliary officer with the Florida Highway Patrol. "So they (doctors) are surprised I am walking. I go 1,388 feet every day with a cane."

He exercises each day and goes to the office to do administrative work. He has been working there for 20 years, but can't carry a gun or drive a car.

Buchweitz, 44, put in a lot of hours for the FHP before the accident, but his service has been cut down since he returned to duty. He was part of a security detail for Gov. Jeb Bush, who was in the area several months before the crash.

Buchweitz was driving home from off-duty diversity training in Miami when a woman drove out of a rest area in Martin County. She made a U-turn to go back south and directly hit Buchweitz's car, a Chevrolet Camaro he and his wife Brenda had purchased 10 days earlier.

He spent two months in a coma. When he came out, doctors raised little hope.

"I wasn't worried," Buchweitz said, then looked at his wife. "She was worried."

"I was worried, but then there was a peace that came over me. You take it one day at a time," said Brenda Buchweitz, an algebra teacher at Sebastian River High School. "They told us Mark would never remember anything or get out of bed."

But he had support.

"A lot of people were pushing me on," he said. "They kept telling me, 'You gotta do it, you gotta do it. Don't just lay in bed.' "

He had to learn to walk, talk and rebuild the muscles in his legs. During months of therapy at Sea Pines Rehabilitation Hospital in Melbourne, Buchweitz was aided by the latest equipment. Robotic braces attached to his legs helped him start walking again on a treadmill, one step at a time.

He continues the rehab process with assistance from a home health care nurse, his wife and his longtime friend, Roger Peck.

"He's going to do better," Peck said confidently.

Peck is one of the reasons Buchweitz wants to get back into his Chevelle.

"I have to take Roger for a ride in it," said the former drag racer, who has several photographs of his racing exploits on the wall. "Just everything takes time," he said. "Every day I do exercises. Three times around the kitchen. I am getting pretty good at it."

Buchweitz, who co-owns a property management company in Palm Bay, spends time on the computer for his job and for local organizations. He uses his computer skills to make charts that help him keep track of his exercises.

The colorful birds in the couple's home add a pleasant atmosphere to his surroundings. They have 58 exotic parrots, a hobby Buchweitz began before the accident.

This summer, they are going on a cruise in Alaska to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.

Brenda has been a pillar of strength and encouragement for her husband, said the Rev. John D. Selvage, Jr., associate pastor of the First Baptist Church of Malabar.

"Since his wreck, Mark's comeback has truly been miraculous."