Gilbert Silva’s next goal is to start his own business, and it would not be a good idea to bet against him.
The Texas man recently passed his final exams to earn a commercial driver’s license, becoming the first amputee to make it through the program at Amarillo College’s Truck Driving School.
KAMR/KCIT had the story of Gil’s grind on myhighplains.com.
“It’s been a long process to get through this,” Gil said, “but it’s been good.”
He was talking about the truck driving school, but he could just as easily have meant his life with limb loss. Gil had a stroke in 2012 and later required above-knee amputation of his right leg.
A company in Amarillo helped him learn to drive the truck using his left leg by building a special device. Amarillo College helped by accommodating the first amputee to attempt the program.
“Man, I would encourage anybody to get out here and go through this class,” Gil said. “It gets you. You can work for yourself, or there’s companies that’s going to hire you, for sure.”