AUGUSTA, Ga. — A wedding trip almost turned deadly for one couple while in Puerto Rico after a robbery went horribly wrong. The husband, who took a bullet for his wife, is now undergoing treatment for a severed spine.
The Tylers married last April. But never went on a honeymoon. This year, they planned their dream vacation. They flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico for a seven day cruise. The cruise went well. But their stay on May 1 nearly cost them their life.
“We wanted to kind of look at the Puerto Rican lights at night. It was really pretty,” said Kenyada Tyler of her trip.
Newlyweds Kendric and Kenyada Tyler watched as their vacation turned ugly.
“Two guys on a motorcycle drove past us,” she began. “They slowed down and looked at us. My husband works in corrections so automatically he was like what’s going on with these people.”
The Tylers were then robbed of what little cash they had. What came next was life changing as Kenyada’s husband of one year attempted to make the ultimate sacrifice.
She described, “He shot at us and my husband stepped in front of me and he caught the bullet.”
Kenyada recorded her husband talking in his hospital bed.
“The enemy tried, but he can’t. No, no no. I belong to the Lord,” Kendric Tyler exclaimed.
His wife tells us the bullet entered his shoulder and went through his body. The Demark native now receives treatment at Augusta University Medical Center.
“When the bullet actually hit it broke his C 5 and it damaged in between his C 6 and C 7, which was severed, which controls your motor skills. So, he was unable to move anything from the neck down,” she described.
Kendric also shared, “Trust and believing and leaning and depending on His holy, dIvine Word. That’s what it’s all about.”
Through faith the 34-year-old miraculously moved his finger, toe and even lifted his arm. After a short time in a hospital in Puerto Rico, the Garden City is where they wanted to be, closer to family.
“We wanted to come to Augusta,” Kenyada said. “We’ve heard great things about this medical center.”
Healing will take time. But the Tylers hope to head to Shepherd Center in Atlanta for spinal cord rehab before heading back home to Alaska where life must go on despite this tragic situation.
“We’re just taking it one day at a time,” she said. “We just want people to, number one, know about being safe on vacation. There are some things going on in Puerto Rico that the government is doing to the people that is causing them to be desperate.”
The Tylers’ story has gone viral with help coming from as far as Africa.
To help with the Tylers’ Medical /Travel Expenses, click here. Follow their story on Facebook here.
(WJBF-TV)