One afternoon, Kevin wheeled two blocks to a convenience store at the TIRR annex (still in his body cast) to get a tube of toothpaste. Three men blocked his way and said, “Hey, man, you got any money?” When Kevin tried to pass, they demanded all his money. “Hey, I’ve only got three dollars,” Kevin said. The men shrugged and grabbed it from him. That was the last time Kevin went out for toothpaste alone.
Still, his trips to Corpus Christi became more and more frequent until, about seven months after he was first admitted. Kevin was released from the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research.
The date was March 16, 1982.
Unfortunately, it was a bittersweet parting. For one thing, he would be forever hooked to a catheter and would have reoccurring bladder and bowel problems. But, perhaps more disturbing, as his counselors had tried to warn him, life outside the TIRR was more difficult than he had dreamed.
“The world from a wheelchair is tough!” Kevin said. “It was kind of amazing to me. Chairbound, you’re on your own in the walking world. If you can make it, fine. If you can’t, there’s no one who’ll worry about it. In '82, most public places had no accessibility for the handicapped. “
Kevin was irritated by the way people would stare at him, and pry—ask him questions like “what's your problem?” or worse still, talk over him as if he wasn't there.
“One time, right after I got out of the hospital, I was in a store and I politely told a man ‘Excuse me’ because I couldn’t get by. The guy whirled around, glared at me, and snarled, ‘Screw you, crip. Go around!’”
There were other problems, particularly at home. The tension with Brenda was almost unbearable. The two spent most nights in silence broken only by angry accusations. Simple discussions quickly disintegrated into bitter quarrels.
Earlier, when Kevin had come back to Corpus on weekend passes from the TIRR still in his body cast, his wife would promptly leave him with baby Steven. She’d disappear for hours, leaving him to care for a baby he could hardly bend over to reach. Kevin tells the story of Mique Davis, a quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the neck down. He became an artist and got his bachelors degree, his Masters degree & his P.h.D. in Art. He told Kevin it's not what happens It's what you choose to do about it that makes the difference. Thanks to that inspiration Kevin Saunders became one of the best Motivational Speakers working today, he also is a top safety speaker because of the terrible explosion that through him over 300 feet through the air and then he landed on his head and shoulders and his legs flipped over him breaking his body over at his chest. He noticed the grain collection system in the grain elevator was not working properly and he reported it to the Corpus Christi Port engineer and his reply was "We don't have the 2 million + dollars it would take to fix it now. So Kevin logged it with his supervisor but nothing was ever done about it. Through Kevin's success in competition and working with K-State football since 1991 to present he also speaks about fitness and sports and today he is one of the top educational speakers working today. Kevin also has shared his testimonial with hundreds of churches nationwide and always elicits a positive response wherever he goes and gets a standing ovation wherever he speaks.

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