‘An inspiration’

“Five, four, three, two, one.”

As the countdown ends, Meynard Enriquez and John Villanueva step in unison over a speed bump in the road, then continue walking.

A few minutes later, they come to another speed bump and, about five yards out, Enriquez counts down again, and this time they barely break stride.

The two make steady progress as they follow the loop road near the Kauai Marriott Resort &Beach Club.

Villanueva’s right arm and Enriquez’s left are linked together by a short piece of rope.

“J has two speeds,” Enriquez says, smiling. “There’s walking and there is sprinting. He’s a really fast runner.”

Cars and trucks speed past them, well beyond the posted 14-mph signs. And the wind whips through the tree branches on this sunny Sunday morning.

It’s the wind, though, that Villanueva notices.

“The wind makes me more blind because of my ears,” he says.

The 43-year-old can hear well, and in fact relies on it, he can’t see. He lost his sight following a 2003 vehicle accident that nearly killed him and left him wheelchair bound for years.

His recovery has been what Enriquez, his physical therapist the past five years, calls miraculous.

“It’s pretty amazing that he’s actually doing all the things he’s doing,” Enriquez said. “When I first saw him I was really amazed he even walked in the door.”

Years of study and experience taught Enriquez that people with injuries like Villanueva’s don’t walk again.

But he did.

Not only is he walking, he’s running.

And on Sunday, he’ll be in the Kauai half marathon.

“I think that’s like true inspiration,” said Enriquez, who will be at Villanueva’s side every step of the way. “There’s a lot of us with a lot more but we do a lot less with it. He’s the total opposite of that.”

Villanueva, who has a youthful face and light spirit, laughs at that comment.

“Maybe because I’m hard-headed,” he said, smiling.

That he is.

His wife of nine years, Teresa, will vouch for his tenacity, determination and drive. She’s not surprised that this man they call “J” for short fought back from the ruptured spleen and ripped aorta he suffered in that crash.

She’s not surprised to see him walking and running, alone, along the shoreline at Kekaha, as his feet let him know he’s in that sweet spot between the soft and packed sand.

“He can sense where he is along the beach. It’s amazing. I don’t know how he does it,” Enriquez said.

Villanueva believes he can do more, and plans to prove it Sunday.

“I think it’s a good goal for him,” said Teresa, who will also be running the half on Sunday “It helps with his recovery.”

“The thing about the accident is, the recovery is never-ending,” she added. “There’s always a new plateau.”

Considering what he’s gone through, covering 13.1 miles should be a walk in the park.

Well, maybe.

“I’ve never ran in my life,” Villanueva said, laughing when asked of previous running experience.

Both men are solid and strong, but neither is feeling great for Sunday morning, as they‘re recovering from colds. Music from the 1970s, “Dream Police” by Cheap Trick and later “Warrior” by Patti Smyth, is playing on the phone attached to Enriquez’s arm.

“I really like the ‘70s rock,” Villanueva said.

He doesn’t talk much about the accident on Aug. 18, 2003. He remembers he was returning home after working on a job as a carpenter on Kawaihau Road. His vehicle ended up on rocks near Kealia Beach. It took rescuers 45 minutes to free him.

His spleen ruptured. His aorta was ripped. He lost his sight. He suffered strokes in the months ahead. He spent six weeks in The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu.

“My family said they were going to pull the plug on me,” he said. “There were no signs.”

“I guess I wasn’t supposed to have survived,” he added.

But he did.

The first two years were the roughest, as he could do little for himself. He felt helpless.

That, he thought to himself, had to change.

“It was like, I’m tired of not doing nothing,” he said. “They said I wasn’t going to walk.”

Villanueva disagreed.

He began pulling himself along in his wheelchair with his feet. Gradually, he began standing. Then small steps. Then bigger ones. While his rehab continues and he continues to progress — he can swim — there are days of doubt.

“Being blind is not the easiest thing,” he said.

His wife is “a real motivator,” Villanueva said, and he’s thankful for her support.

When they met, he couldn’t use his hands. They were clenched tight from a stroke.

Teresa encouraged and worked with him. It paid off.

“I just started using my hands,” Villanueva said. “They’re to the point where I can use them now. I can hold my white cane. I could never hold that cane.”

When he was a young man, his hands were everything. They let the 1994 Waimea High School graduate surf, swim, fish and dive.

“I used to surf for six hours straight without eating or drinking water,” he said.

Born and raised on the Westside, he loved the water, and had aspirations to be a musician.

“I wanted to play like Eddie Van Halen,” he said, laughing. “I was not a normal boy.”

What sustained him since the crash has been family, friends, faith and attitude.

“I always was a positive person,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. I have my ups and downs. I get my days of depressions and stuff like that. What are you to do, you know? Are you going to make the best of the situation or just do nothing?”

He pauses, then continues.

“I wanted to be one good example for my son,” he said. “He went through a lot of challenges, and I just wanted to show him there’s different aspects of one man. A man is not somebody who is macho or shows off a lot. One man doesn’t have to do all that kind of things.”

He has a grown son, Ezekiel, two stepdaughters and four grandchildren.

“You’re just doing things right in life, you know, taking care of your family, taking care of your kids, correct them when they do wrong things,” Villanueva said

He wasn’t perfect, but he was motivated, he said.

“I met a great gal and I was like, ‘Can I be this person? Can I be a husband even in this condition? Can I take care of her? Can I fulfill her needs? Can I take care of my son?’”

“That’s just a motivation factor for me that runs around in my brain. Can I do it?”

The answer is yes, absolutely.

“He’s certainly an inspiration to me,” Enriquez said. “I think we all need a little reminding that there is a lot of things in life beside what we might have in front of us beside just living in the present.”

Enriquez, clinical director at the Hawaii Sports and Balance Center, said being a guide runner has been a learning experience.

“I didn’t realize how much it involved,” he said.

He must be in sync with John, aware of their surroundings, what’s ahead, what’s behind and what’s next to them. He must be alert every step of their journey.

“It’s my duty to make sure he stays safe, that both of us stay safe,” Enriquez said.

Villanueva nods as he listens. For a few seconds, he again pauses. Then, he offers these words as he and Enriquez resume walking toward their own finish line that morning.

“Life is an interesting road.”

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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.