TRUE NORTH HEROES SPOTLIGHT: ROMY AND GABY CAMARGO
by Leslie Parsons
When Romulo “Romy” Camargo was 12, he and his family took their annual trip to Venezuela to visit relatives. While there, Romy met Gaby, the girl who would someday become his wife, for the first time. At the time, neither of them could have possibly imagined what the future held in store for them. They were just two kids having fun and getting to know each other.
By the time Romy and Gaby married in 2006, he had already been in the U.S. Army for over a decade and a member of the elite Special Forces unit for six years. The young couple looked forward to starting their lives together and having a family of their own. All that changed on September 16, 2008 when Romy was shot in the back of the neck after his unit was ambushed by insurgents in Afghanistan. (To learn more about the ambush, watch this episode of Warmakers.)
In the blink of an eye, the course of Romy and Gaby’s lives was permanently altered. The injury left Romy unable to breathe on his own and paralyzed from the neck down. Gaby, who was already caring for the couple’s infant son, found herself facing challenges she never could have imagined. After returning to the United States, Romy received initial treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before being moved to James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, which is widely renowned for its treatment of patients with spinal cord injuries.
According to Gaby, Romy really began to recover once he got to Tampa. It is important to recognize that, in the case of spinal cord injuries, “recovery” can take many forms. Over the course of 18 months, Romy underwent what Gaby calls a “brutal” process of weaning off the ventilator. Though he has a small diaphragmatic pacer “just in case,” Romy is now able to breathe on his own. Doctors were also able to devise treatments that help control his blood pressure and enable him to differentiate between hot and cold.
Of course, this is not where Romy and Gaby’s story ends. After 18 months of treatment, they began the long, difficult process of figuring out what their new normal looked like. Gaby is Romy’s primary caregiver and, in the years following his release from the hospital, had to navigate the challenges of raising their son while traveling two hours each way to Orlando twice a week for Romy’s physical therapy. Frustrated that there was nothing closer to their home in Tampa, the Camargos decided to open Stay In Step, a facility that provides therapy to those suffering from spinal cord injuries or neurological disorders resulting in paralysis.
Stay in Step opened its doors in 2015 and, thanks to the Camargos’ hard work and the generosity of individual and corporate donors, expanded to a larger facility in October, 2022. Romy serves as what Gaby calls the “face and heart” of the organization, while Gaby oversees the staff and volunteers and is in charge of day-to-day operations.
Though much of her time is devoted to caring for Romy and their son (who is now 16 years old), Gaby spends at least four days a week at the center and is heavily involved in the planning and execution of the organization’s signature event, the annual Stay in Step Gala. Despite everything, Gaby says she feels blessed. When talking about the hardships she and Romy have had to endure since his injury, she says “It’s making me a better person.”
The True North Foundation is honored to be able to support Romy and Gaby in their continuing efforts to help others with spinal cord injuries. If you’d like to learn more about Stay in Step or any of our other partner organizations, check out our website and don’t forget to sign up for our email list.