Nearly 19 years after a wreck left a man paralyzed and unable to communicate, his power of speech has returned, the man’s family said Monday.

Terry Wallis was 19 when the pickup truck in which he and two friends were driving near Stone County, Arkansas, drove through a rail and off a 25-foot bluff and tumbled to the ground. … Wallis was paralyzed.

But June 12 2003, their son made a major advance, the parents said.

Since then, she has been trying to catch up with her son, and finds him to be a willing participant. “He loves to talk.”

But he remains stuck in 1984, she said. Asked who the president is, her son replied, “Ronald Reagan,” she said. .