Fighter, father hangs tough after paralyzing injury

[...] that morning as his nearly 3-year-old daughter, Liliana, climbed on him in the hospital bed he sleeps in at home, Michael just wanted to be a dad. Liliana threw her weight against his arm, and he pushed her back onto the bed, the way dads horse around with their wide-eyed, apple-cheeked toddlers. Over the coming months, Michael charged at therapy with the same fight he'd always shown on the rugby field. He spent seven months at the Good Samaritan Lutheran Health Care Center in Delmar, where the physical and occupational therapists made Michael's rehabilitation their mission. [...] a wheelchair-accessible addition was built thanks to the coordinated efforts of Keystone Builders and the Jones' neighbor, Katrina Bolen, something Lisa calls Delmar's version of 'Extreme Home Makeover. It's been having to become her husband's health care advocate, pleading for equipment and having to fight when the system wanted to reduce Michael's aide coverage from 24-hour care to 14 hours a day. Michael's blood pressure soars as they scramble to figure out what's causing the response and fix it. The injury also means he has reduced lung function and sleep apnea and has to wear a breathing mask at night. Jim Sloan, Michael's physical therapist, says he has to pull him back like a racehorse or Michael will work so hard he'll exhaust himself. Michael dreams of a spot at Project Walk, an exercise-based spinal cord injury recovery program in California.