LAKE STATION | A traffic accident in November left Randy LaBresh paralyzed from the waist down because of a spinal cord injury.

Now, the Lake Station man says he wants nothing more than the opportunity to get back on his feet.

For him, that means not only being able to pay his bills again, but to walk.

"I want my legs back," the 44-year-old laborer said.

LaBresh, who gets around his house in a wheelchair, received word earlier this week from Medicaid that he'll receive additional therapy.

His girlfriend and former wife, Sherree LaBresh, said the doctor's recent prognosis is that the nerves and muscles in his legs aren't dead yet, which is a good sign.

"I just know he'll walk again," she said. "God willing."

She said it's hard to watch someone like Randy be sidelined because he's always been a workaholic.

"He worked two jobs all his life," she said.

LaBresh was working as a blaster at Union Carbide and was heading home when he was involved in a two-vehicle crash in Hammond, he said.

"He almost got killed, then he got laid off," Sherree LaBresh said.

She said he's still waiting to see if he'll receive disability benefits. Their savings have pretty much dried up.

"My mom helps me when she can," he said.

The couple contacted the township trustee and have gotten food stamps and the promise of utility assistance.

But because they're behind on their mortgage payments, they're on the brink of losing their house.

Sherree LaBresh said she and Randy previously were married, were divorced twice and are now back together and hoping to remarry.

"I'm no good without him, and he's no good without me," she said.

LaBresh, who has a 12-year-old son by another relationship, grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and moved to Northwest Indiana in 1987.

He moved to his home in the 3500 block of Wisconsin Street more than a year ago with plans to use his carpentry skills to improve it.

"I wanted to flip this baby," he said.

The wheelchair ramp at the house wasn't built well and the couple fear an accident.

"It's like a ski ramp," he said.

Sherree LaBresh, who has physical disabilities that keep her from obtaining a job, said it hurts her to see her boyfriend be unable to work.

"He can outwork two 22-year-olds. He's not lazy. ... There's nothing he can't do," she said.