DALLAS -- As a Navy SEAL, Daniel Licardo was fearless. Licardo spent 16 years in the navy. He retired in 2008 and settled down in Flower Mound. That's where, he found a new way to serve. Licardo found a new home inside the Adaptive Training foundation.
"He put an automatic rifle in my hand, while I was in a wheelchair, I didn't have a prosthetic yet," said Tina Hurley, an adaptive athlete.
"He reminds me of a cross between Sylvester Stallone and The Rock," Hurley said describing Licardo. Licardo used his skills as a SEAL to work with athletes like Hurley.
"We had people with half their legs. We had people with no spinal cords. We had people with TBIs [traumatic brain injuries], and he included all of us like were able-bodied," Hurley said.
What no one realized is that Dan may have been preparing himself as much as he was helping them. "I honestly can't imagine that this wasn't a divine set up," Hurley said.
Three weeks ago, Dan crashed his truck into a tree in Flower Mound. According to Flower Mound Police, he experienced an "unknown medical issue" behind the wheel. His girlfriend's two kids were in the back, and somehow they walked away. Word spread that Dan was alive but in bad shape.
Dan was alive, but life would never be the same. He lost both of his legs in the accident. He's still in the Intensive Care Unit at Parkland Hospital. "He's mentally there. You can see the glow behind his eyes. We've had conversations. We talk about deep things. We talk about surface things. I give him a hard time a lot, and he still laughs and rolls his eyes at me," said close friend and marine veteran Michael Upchurch.
Upchurch has been at Dan's side since the night of the crash.
"You see, all these warfighters that are like hardened guys and when they see their brother hurt, how it affects them is probably the most touching," Upchurch said.
In the weeks since the crash, a GoFundMe has raised more than $160,000 for his recovery. The Navy Seals' Fund has raised close to $60,000. "There's really no medical sense for why he survived this other than his heart, his grit, and all of the prayers from around the country," Hurley said.
The prayers and donations are great, but the community of adaptive athletes may be his best medicine.
"Without the foundation, without having seen other people blazing a train after limb loss or life after trauma, it would have been a very hopeless, helpless situation. He's seen everyone thriving inside of and not despite their injuries," Hurley said.
Dan has many critical surgeries ahead of him but was able to release this video from his hospital bed. "I'm okay, I'm going to be okay," he said, "I'm going to be just fine. I wasn't sure, but you can't keep a good man down."