Paralyzed vet struggled after a devastating accident. A phone call from a cop changed his life forever

For Billy Keenan, a former teacher and army veteran, life was full of capabilities until one day, on September 14, 2013, he succumbed to a horrifying accident while surfing at the Jersey Shore. Following the incident, he was left paralyzed from the shoulders down and couldn't breathe on his own. But, one day, he received a phone call from a police officer that changed his life. 

During a talk at Berkeley's College in November 2023, Keenan recalled how he found the strength to get back up and give life another chance despite being paralyzed. "The times you don't think you'd go any further, go one step further and you'll be amazed at the rewards that'll come to you," he said. "I had to keep picking through the wreckage and find more pieces of resilience. And I used those pieces of resilience to lay the foundation upon which I would rebuild my life, as a father and an older son."

Furthermore, he revealed that by the time he was injured, he had mastered five musical instruments. "Learning new instruments came easily and quickly to me," Keenan said. He then recounted his time in the Helen Hayes Hospital where he was undergoing intensive rehab, physical, occupational and speech therapy. He was given medications to sleep but his suffering was so intense he could barely shut his eyes. 

So, in his profound grief, he called out to God. "I was desperate. And one day, in early November, a man named Stephen McDonald called me." He was an NYPD Detective who also suffered a shooting in 1986 and became paralyzed like Keena. However, he didn't give up on himself and became a public speaker preaching to people to forgive those who have hurt them as he forgave his shooter.

He told Keenan, "The only reason you survive is when you're better, when you're stronger, when your rehab is over, you're going to come back and contribute in a significant way. Don't ever forget that in the end, there will be life." From then on, his perspective toward life and suffering changed forever. He stopped looking at himself as a victim but a man with a purpose. 

Four months later, a miracle happened and he started breathing independently. McDonald's words worked, and in 2015, Keenan went back to teaching. However, he later retired, and after McDonald's death in January 2017, he decided to follow in the deceased footsteps and became a motivational speaker. "With the energy I have left, you know, I try to be there as a steward and as a light of inspiration for, you know, the human family," he told CBS News. 

He truly believed that the phone call he received was God sent. "Those words — were not coming from Steven. They were coming through Steven. I truly believe that he was the messenger from God to save a terribly lost soul," he said. In 2023, he published an autobiography "The Road to Resilience: The Billy Keenan Story" and has been on multiple platforms promoting it. Looking back at his life as an Army Lieutenant and paratrooper, Keenan said he had been accustomed to "deliberate discomfort". When times were good, he was unintentionally challenging himself which somehow prepared him for the difficult times and gave him the resilience he required to get through. However, unfortunately, he died in August 2024 following complications from his accident, as per Rockland News.