CLEVELAND — One delegate on the convention floor will be following Wauseon speaker Brock Mealer with special pride tonight — his aunt, Sandra Barber, a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Mr. Mealer was 22 when he was severely injured in an auto accident that killed his father, David Mealer, 50, and Hollis Richer, 17, the girlfriend of his brother Elliott Mealer on Christmas Eve in 2007. David Mealer was the younger brother of Mrs. Barber.

Brock Mealer will be one of the speakers just before Donald Trump addresses the GOP convention.

“They told him he had a 1 percent chance of walking again,” said Mrs. Barber, Fulton County recorder and chairman of the Fulton County Republican Party. She’s one of 66 Ohio Republican delegates attending the convention in Cleveland.

Brock, expected to speak between 8 and 9 p.m., walks aided by a cane and has braces on his arms. He drives himself.

“I’m proud of him that he never quit, never gave up,” she said.

Mr. Mealer said he is a Republican and supports Mr. Trump.

He underwent rehabilitation at the University of Michigan, where Elliott played offensive lineman for the Wolverines.

He said the speech will be about ”overcoming whatever odds are against you and embracing your future.

“A big part of that is my faith. I have been blessed,” he said.

Mr. Mealer, 31, runs his grandfather’s concrete plant in Bryan, Pahl Ready Mix Concrete Inc., and he is a motivational speaker.

The RNC program said this about Mr. Mealer’s prime-time role: “Brock Mealer is a walking miracle. ... Today, Brock has conquered the odds and is able to walk again. .. He now shares his story with many.”

He’s the only Ohioan on the published list of speakers. Former Speaker of the House Larry Householder made an unannounced appearance on Monday.

Mrs. Barber played a part in Mr. Mealer getting the convention speaking role.

She said the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) called and asked her for some suggestions for a young business owner or operator to feature in a TV ad. She suggested Mr. Mealer.

The Portman campaign forwarded the suggestion to the convention committee, which called Mr. Mealer the next day and invited him to speak.

Mr. Mealer was initially paralyzed from the waist down in the accident, caused when another driver ran a stop sign.

He said first responders reported that no one in the Mealer car was wearing a seat belt.

Mr. Mealer said he doesn’t remember exactly, and he believes the police report of the accident. But he said he was surprised because his father was a stickler about wearing a seat belt.

“He always made us buckle up, and then the one time we don’t is the one time we’re in an accident,” Mr. Mealer said.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published July 21, 2016, 4:00 a.m.