Why Texas Gov. Greg Abbott uses a wheelchair

In 1984, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was a 26-year-old Duncanville High School graduate who had just finished law school at Vanderbilt.

He took a break from studying for the bar exam to go on a jog with his roommate in the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston. During the run, an oak tree that had been weakened by a recent storm fell on him, partially paralyzing the Texas governor.

“You wake up, you study, you take a break, you go out for a run,” Abbott told The Dallas Morning News in an interview for a 2010 profile. “There was no forewarning, foreboding, no thinking that my life would change forevermore.”

Surgeons found that Abbott had bone fragments lodged in his broken spine. He also had fractured ribs and damaged kidneys. After the accident, Abbott was forced to lie flat for a month before starting the rehab process.

The governor passed the bar exam a year later, starting him on the path toward a career in politics. During his 2014 gubernatorial election campaign, he often told crowds that the accident literally gave him “a spine of steel.”

In 2013, Abbott released for the first time the terms of a lawsuit settlement over the accident, which details how much he will receive and when. Abbott sued the homeowner and tree care company and won.