OKMULGEE, Okla. — Larry Porter is a police officer with the Muscogee Nation Lighthorse Tribal Police Department. When he woke up on Sept. 1, he couldn’t move.

Porter was taken to Hillcrest Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, where he remained for three weeks before he was moved to the Kaiser Rehabilitation Center on the Hillcrest medical campus.

On Friday, Porter came home.

It’s been a long road for him and his family.

On Monday, Porter was chasing his children around their house, pretending to be a monster – something he didn’t think he could do again just a few weeks ago.

When FOX23 first talked with Porter, he had been paralyzed for 3 weeks. He was in rehabilitation, but he had no diagnosis.

“One doctor came in and scared me, about 2 weeks ago, he told me that I would never recover,” Porter said, “And then one doctor said, ‘Well, you will recover at 100% so it was kind of back and forth.”

He gradually regained movement in his hands with 3 hours of physical therapy every day.

A week ago, he was able to walk. When Porter came home on Friday, he was surprised to find both sides of the street in front of his house were lined with the police cars of his fellow officers, welcoming him home.

Alexis Simmons is Porter’s fiancée.

”It was an emotional day,” she said, “When I pulled up to the house in the van with him and they realized he was in the van, they all started crying hysterically but…it was tears of joy … and it was very  heartwarming to see that.”

Porter’s partner Kalob Epperley was the officer leading the parade of police cars.

“The hardest part for me seeing him out here was when he started tearing up because his kids were crying,” Epperley said, “That hit me hard.”

“I still can’t believe it. I came home and I had about 25 police cars out in my driveway, out in the front and people with “Welcome” signs,” Porter said, “It was very impactful, like, I didn’t think I did anything different. I’m just a regular old guy.”

Epperley and his department are anxious to have Porter back at work.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said, “I’ve told him he’s going to do his physical therapy. We’re going to do everything we can to get him back. If I have to come up to help get to appointments and anything like that, I’m here for him.”

It has been an especially difficult journey for Porter’s children, who are soaking up having him home and his ability to play with them, however limited it is.

“They got to see him, I believe, about twice in the past 6 weeks but not for very long,” she said, “And so it was definitely more emotional and stressful on them not being able to see their dad. I was lucky enough to see him every weekend but with the places that he was in the hospital, they weren’t allowed to come back.”

Porter is not out of the woods yet. He still needs three days a week of physical therapy.

“I want to get better where we can do normal activities as a family,” he said, “We like going to pumpkin patches. We like going to Halloween things. We just like doing things as a family. If we want to go out to eat, we go out to eat. If we want to go grab a pizza, we just like to do things as a family. And not being able to do things normally, it’s not me.”He says he also loves to be outside with his family – enjoying the sunshine, playing with his children, and cooking and grilling.

What’s next for the police officer who was in the hospital for 6 weeks?

“Christmas shopping,” he said, “I’m definitely ready to go Christmas shopping for my kids and get Christmas decorations up. Christmas is my favorite time of the year so I’m ready.”

When Porter was finally diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, he says doctors told him it was a spinal stroke that caused his paralysis.

But, he says, he always believed he would walk again.

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