Gloria Estefan’s near-fatal tour bus crash inspired $42 million lawsuit to cure paralysis

Nearly 35 years ago, Gloria Estefan was nearly killed in a freak accident when a tractor-trailer slammed into her tour bus in Pennsylvania.

The Grammy Award-winning artist, who was 32 at the time, was thrown to the floor of the bus and left temporarily paralyzed with a broken back.

Estefan was warned she might never walk again, but with the help of doctors and her own determination, the “Conga” singer returned to the stage nearly a year later. She has since been an active advocate for paralysis research, having donated more than $42 million to support spinal cord injury research.

Gloria Estefan recalls breaking her back in 1990 bus crash

Estefan remembers hearing about how serious his injuries were after the 1990 accident.

“They always have to give you the worst-case scenario, and I was paralyzed because of that accident,” she said on CBS Mornings. “I was reconstructed here in New York, at the joint disease hospital.”

Read on the Fox News app

Do you like what you read? Click here for more entertainment news

Estefan said her father was in a wheelchair so she understood what “families go through.” However, being in a wheelchair was one of his biggest fears.

“We installed an elevator in our house, because one day I felt that I was going to need it… and thank God I did, because I used it for a long time,” a- she declared.

Estefan partnered with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, co-founded by former Miami Dolphins player Nick Buoniconti and Dr. Barth Green. She said the foundation had made “incredible progress” with research projects and had “175 people working toward a cure.”

When asked if a cure for paralysis is on the horizon, Estefan remains optimistic.

Click here to subscribe to the entertainment newsletter

“I believe it will, it will have to be. Look how many things have been healed,” she said. “I know when I was a kid, if they said the ‘C’ word to you – cancer – that was the end, and now there are so many treatments for cancer.

“And it will also do a lot of great things for diseases like Alzheimer’s, the MS that my father suffered from after Agent Orange poisoning, Parkinson’s disease, because these are all neuro-related diseases and This research is really important for that.”

Estefan remembered how slow his recovery was, but his accomplishments seemed great, regardless of their size.

“Six months after the accident, I was able to put on my underwear. I wanted to have a party,” Estefan said.

“And then, that’s when I started thinking about getting back on stage and showing people, ‘Hey, you can get through tough things depending on how you handle them.’ But I was back on stage 20 days shy of a year. It took me three years to really feel better.”

Original article source: Gloria Estefan’s near-fatal tour bus crash inspired $42 million lawsuit to cure paralysis