Noah Adams’ Central Catholic story may be coming to an end this week, but his story is continuing to inspire others. That of even a team of people who helped him get into the Center for the Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston earlier in the year.

This story consists of many obstacles they have had to endure to get him in, but in the end, a happy ending took place and shone a light on Central’s community, and continues to as the seniors make their road to the stage coming up on Thursday. Noah will be the first name called up to receive his diploma.

To see how it all started, I had the pleasure of exclusively interviewing Joseph Bray. A Vietnam Veteran who along with help of the school, got Noah the best treatment possible.

Bray starts, “It all started around early December. I am what you would call a Civilian Aid to the Secretary of the Army. (CASA) So I got a phone call from MSG Robles about that time. I have known Gene for about six years. He was a member of the San Antonio recruiting Battallion, and we knew each other as a result of his working with the Battallion and my position as Chairman for the San Antonio Community Action Committee. We helped each other out,” he says.

“He mentioned to me Noah and his situation. That he had been diagnosed with cancer, and ultimately he had to have his right leg amputated below the knee. They reattached his foot in the opposite direction, and that he was going through physical therapy and occupational therapy. He thought it would be a good idea if we could attempt to get Noah into the Center for the Intrepid.”

“The Center for the Intrepid is associated with Brooks Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. It’s the largest Army hospital in the country. It is a facility that helps wounded warriors, mostly amputees and burn victims, to get rehabilitated and to get back into as normal life as they can, giving their situations. Given Noah’s situation with the amputation, etc, MSG Robles thought it would be a good idea to try to get him in for his therapy and if needed, his occupational therapy. I reached out because MSG introduced me to CPT Rhodes and CPT gave me a lot more detail of the situation. Ultimately, those conversations led to a meeting with President Garro. (at the time) I actually met President at his office, and he really went into details of Noah’s situation and actually introduced me to his mother. I got to meet the whole team and I got to spend some time with MSG Robles, CPT Rhodes, and President Garro, and I asked President Garro to put together a package of Noah’s situation.”

He continues, “He wrote a letter with some details about his situation, along with other information he and Noah’s mother thought was pertinent to request. The opportunity to due occupational therapy at the Center for the Intrepid. I happen to know Brigidaire General Shaun Bagbey and I took that package and said I would run it up the chain of command and see what could happen. Prior to that, CPT Rhodes had attempted to make contact with the Intrepid and to see what he could do to move that opportunity along. But, he ran into roadblocks and it never came to fluition.”

“So I took that passage that President Garro put together and I presented it to General Bagbey with a request to see if we could get Noah into the Center for the Intrepid to do his therapy. I explained everything to General Bagbey, he took that formal request, and gave it to Colonel Jeffery Tiede. Colonel Tiede is responsible for running the Center for the Intrepid. I spoke with him, after being introduced with him, and he got pretty excited about it, because obviously it the Center for the Intrepid, and he and his staff are working with challenged military personnel. They took the package and ran it up the Chain of Command, and it had to go through multiple levels in the Army. It ultimately passed the medical side of the Command, and it found its way up to the Secretary of the Army, and the Secretary finally approved the request for Noah- who is a young man, a senior in high school, not in the military, approved Noah to have access to the Center for the Intrepid for his physical therapy and occupational therapy.”

“So if you think about it for a second, here is a young man in high school whose not in the military to go to the premier Facility that helps wounded warriors get back to a normal life,” he added in an excited tone.

Mr. Bray was then asked what it was like for him during the meeting, meeting him and Debi Harper, and said, “There’s nothing like experiencing something like that. I was a soldier, for me to experience that in my life, I went to Vietnam. I have experienced the good the bad and the ugly. When you’re sitting in a meeting or being introduced to a young man and his mother and you see the determination, you experience the emotions that they are going through and you see this never-give-up attitude. The confidence and just the determination that Noah has for a young man to display that type of courage, it just makes you feel that there is hope in the world. People like this definitely make a difference and they’re not only changing their lives, but they’re changing lives of the people around them.”

Bray says that he and his ‘team,’ and their effort was what made this possible. He says everyone in the school and that helped get Noah in showed compassion and that the students made a huge impact in the process. He says the resources were ‘marshalled,’ and pushed the request forward to not take ‘no’ for an answer.