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Arlington Lamar tennis athlete Brandon Anwar recovers after car splits in two in accident

ARLINGTON – Two weeks, maybe three, after the car split in two and somehow he escaped the passenger seat with his life, Brandon Anwar lay in a hospital bed, unable to walk, unsure of the exact number of broken bones in a broken body, and tennis entered his mind. He wanted to play again.

“It’s just one of those things,” he said, “when you get something taken away from you.”

Anwar, an Arlington Lamar senior, does play again. He plays with a still-mean serve and volley, on hesitant legs and the enlightened soul of someone who has discovered life’s fragility.

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“Anybody at any age who has gone through what he has gone through is going to change,” said his mother, Valerie Anwar. “You can’t help but change.”

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In the morning of an early August day in 2010, Anwar played tennis from 10 to noon. Arlington Lamar started school in a week, and fall team tennis had begun.

For lunch, Anwar went to an Indian restaurant with some friends. They played “Call of Duty” in the afternoon, and a teammate drove Anwar back to school to get his car.

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They took a corner too fast, swerved to avoid a car and smashed into a tree. The impact tore the car in half. The driver sustained a concussion. Anwar was life-flighted to Fort Worth.

“I don’t know how I survived it,” Anwar said. “How does anybody get out of that car? My side was completely gone. It was physically impossible to get out of that car and be alive.”

He had shattered his left wrist, pelvis, left leg, right hip socket, right ankle, right foot and two ribs. The doctors said Anwar would walk again in six to nine months.

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About nine weeks later, he walked.

Anwar matured during those weeks. He started attending church every week, driving 5 miles an hour under the speed limit, ending many conversations with the words “drive carefully” and telling his mom how much he appreciated every day.

He eased back into tennis. And found he didn’t have the same lateral quickness.

“I think in some aspects it probably scares him,” Valerie Anwar said. “I don’t think he’ll ever tell me that or admit that.”

But there he was in February, playing his first match since being back. Valerie cried. Brandon was no longer the No. 1 singles player but a doubles specialist.

He and a partner finished third at the Arlington Lamar tournament earlier this spring. He will play at the district tournament Wednesday. Last year, his doubles team won the district title, something he has accepted is unlikely to happen this season.

“You deal with the cards you’re dealt,” Anwar said. “It’s definitely become more fun.”