by KIM HILSENBECK
Juan Torres of Kyle was one of the first students to attend the new Hays High School after consolidation in 1968. He graduated in the class of 1971.
Ten years after graduation, at age 28, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision.
On Nov. 3, Torres passed away from the disease. He was 60 years old.
During his high school years, Torres played football for Coach Bob Shelton. He wore the jersey with the number 76.
His wife, Norma Torres, was with him from the beginning of his journey with MS. They went from doctor to doctor, even to Houston and Louisiana, for second and third opinions.
She said it took her husband about six years to accept his condition. He eventually was in a wheelchair full time.
Over the years, she took him to treatments in Houston about every six months. He would then be in remission for a while but the disease always caught up with him again.
Forty years, three children and five grandchildren later, she said, “It was hard, but we made it through.”
Mrs. Torres said her husband loved football. They continued going to Hays High games for many years, even when they didn’t know any of the students playing.
Several years ago, they had to stop going because of the progression of his MS.
“He was in a lot of pain,” she said.
She said Shelton and seven of Torres’s former Hays High teammates were pallbearers at her husband’s funeral last week. They each wore an armband with their old team number; Shelton wore one that said Coach. Torres had one on his arm with the number 76.
Mrs. Torres said her husband gave some advice to his children before he died.
“You have to look after each other,” he said.
