The sister of Fausto Esparza Muñoz, the 33-year-old cyclist from Guadalajara, Mexico who was paralyzed from the waist down following a wreck in the final stage of the Tour of the Gila Sunday, said her brother is recuperating and is determined to ride again, the Silver City Sun-News reported.

"He is doing much better," Monica Plascencia, Esparza's sister, told the Sun-News. "His back is recuperating very slow, but all other things are moving along faster than doctors expected."

A crash on N.M. 15 in the final stage of the 22nd annual Tour of the Gila left Esparza with several broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a broken spine, and doctors at Thomason Hospital in El Paso operated on him Sunday in an attempt to fuse his T7 vertebra, the Sun-News said.

Although Esparza remained without feeling or movement on Thursday, his sister told the Sun-News: "Cycling is his whole life. His goal is to go back and be on a bike again."

The 14-year veteran of international cycling is familiar with bad wrecks, his sister said.

A severe crash during a race in Argentina on Jan. 15 left her brother with an upper-arm break, Plascencia told the Sun-News.

"He had surgery and was back on his bike 15 days later," she said. "He is pretty tough.

Esparza is a husband and father of three small children, and his sister told the Sun-News that the accident has been particularly tough on his wife and children, but that the family is grateful for the well-wishes, prayers and aid given them from the Grant County area, across the country and from Latin America, the Sun-News said. 

A medical fund has been set up for Mexican cyclist Fausto Esparza Muñoz, who remains paralyzed following a severe wreck Sunday involving several riders in the final stage of the Tour of the Gila bicycle race, the Silver City Sun-News reported.

Esparza, part of the TECOS Trek Team, was flown by helicopter from the Gila Cliff Dwellings to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, Dr. Michael Sergeant, a local doctor who was the lead physician in the race's final stage on Sunday, told the Sun-News.

According to an online article in the cycling magazine VeloNews, Esparza was paralyzed below his midsection and the likelihood of a full recovery was discouraging.

VeloNews said the 33-year-old Esparza underwent surgery on Sunday, but remained paralyzed and without sensation following the operation, the Sun-News reported.

Thomason Hospital officials said Wednesday the racer was in stable condition, the Sun-News said. 

Esparza was one of six racers who crashed in the same short stretch of N.M. 15 on a final descent to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, and while the racer's helmet was shattered in the crash, he suffered no serious head injuries, the Sun-News reported.

He also suffered several broken ribs and a collapsed lung, according to VeloNews.

VeloNews called it the worst crash in the Tour of the Gila's 22-year history.

Wells Fargo Bank in Silver City has set up a fund to help the paralyzed cyclist -- The Fausto Muñoz Esparza Donation Fund, c/o Wells Fargo Bank, 1201 N. Pope St., Silver City NM 88061.

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