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TRUMBULL, Conn. (CBS) ― It is a story of courage and inspiration. Garrett Mendez has gone through an ordeal that he wasn't expected to survive. But the 22-year-old says he is grateful for his second chance -- and the opportunity it's given him to reach out to others.

He seems to glide effortlessly across the ice. Mendez has been playing hockey since he was 3 years old and feels at home on thin blades.

It takes skill, concentration and balance, but what may now look easy comes with a Herculean effort.

When asked if he ever thought he'd be back on the ice, Garrett said, "I knew it would take time."

Mendez is back after suffering a devastating injury that nearly killed him.

"We had no idea he would survive. It was the most horrific thing you could ever imagine," mother Eileen Mendez said.

As unusual as it is for someone his age, doctors said Garrett had suffered a massive stroke, most likely caused by a headfirst slam into the boards during a hockey game.

"And I grabbed my husband's hand and I went 'Uhhh'... I really thought he had broken his neck," his mother said.

Amazingly, Garrett didn't. He even finished the game. But a week later, there was trouble.

"I remember shaking him and saying, 'Garrett, Garrett,' and he wasn't responding," Eileen said. "I rode in the ambulance with him. It was the longest period of my entire life. We didn't know if he was gonna be alive when we got to the hospital."

Garrett was alive, but the prognosis was bleak. He suffered a massive stroke in his brain stem, the part of the brain that controls breathing, speech and heart rate. Doctors told the family all they could do was make him comfortable.

"They were telling us that they thought he was going to die," his mother said. "They did not think he was going to make it. My husband and I both said why couldn't it be us? Why is it him?"

Garrett's distraught family had no way of knowing just how fiercely their son would fight. He was paralyzed, on a ventilator, and unable to communicate. He was locked in his unresponsive body, but his mind was fully aware of what was going on around him.

"I couldn't move. I couldn't see, swallow. I could barely see," Garrett said.

Added his mother: "You're a mother and you don't know if he's in pain. You don't know if he's thinking or what he's thinking. Can he communicate? Does he want to communicate?"

Garrett astounded doctors when he walked just three months later and slowly regained his speech.

And then, just nine months after the stroke he reached a long-awaited goal. Supported by physicals therapists, Garrett made a triumphant return to the ice.

Doctors say his youth, athleticism and will helped Mendez recover. His mother says while hockey may have almost taken his life, it is now giving it back.

"It's given him the discipline and the will to continually fight to get better and to never give up," Eileen Mendez said.

Garrett said the fight is ongoing.

"Everything I do I have to think about doing -- speaking, articulating, walking. Every day is a struggle," Garrett said.

And he said that while what happened to him is rare, his is an experience everyone can learn from.

"Never give up. There's nothing impossible. You can always get through whatever you set your mind to," Garrett said.

He also said he is determined to make the most of what happened to him by educating others about strokes. His family is also active in helping those facing the same challenges.

 

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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