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Exclusive: Hit & Run Victim Recovering, "Staying Positive"

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POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) -- A hit and run driver who left a motorcyclist for dead on Christmas Eve remains on the loose and the victim is telling his story on television for the first time.

Robert Games' story is one of survival, acceptance and strength. Each day Games spends hours doing physical therapy at Broward Health North trying to learn basic tasks and strengthening his body after a hit and run driver left him for dead in Pompano Beach on Christmas Eve. But if you think this former workout fiend and dirt bike racer feels sorry for himself, think again.

Click here to watch Carey Codd's report. 

"There's a lot worse things that could happen than this," Games said. "You've got to look on the bright side, as bad as it is."

Here's the bad: the crash left Games paralyzed from the waist down and with numerous broken bones. He said doctors told his family he might not live and the fact he did has changed everything.

"If you'd have said, 'This is how your life is gonna be later,' I would have been down and out and quite depressed about it," Games told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "But kind of a different philosophy of life when you find out that you're lucky to have survived and lived and you might have died. I'm just happy to be alive, lower extremities or not."

The Broward Sheriff's Office says they continue to investigate this case and have not yet made an arrest. If you know who was driving the car that hit Robert Games on Christmas Eve call Crimestoppers at 954 493 TIPS. A BSO search warrant obtained by CBS 4 News revealed that investigators believe they have recovered the car that hit Games. However they have not yet determined who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Games has also been buoyed by the emotional and financial support from his family, friends and customers at Service Choice Pest Control where he worked as an exterminator. An online fundraising effort has raised more than $20,000 for his medical bills.

"It just gives me hope," Games said. "Even though someone hit me and took off and didn't care about me there's still humanity in the world. people care."

Games says at first he didn't realize he was paralyzed and had thoughts that he was moving his legs. Now he realizes he might not ever walk again.

"I have hope of walking again," he said. "I will never give up. There's always that possibility but in my mind I've got to keep that reality that this might be what I'm in for the rest of my life."

Games wants the driver who hit him caught and punished and he has a message for the driver.

"Take responsibility for what you did," he said. "If you would have stopped it would have been different, accidents happen, I understand that. But to leave me there in the road, that's just not a human being. There's something wrong with somebody like that."

Games said he plans to return to work in some capacity and will continue lifting weights and possibly riding a bike. He remains very optimistic.

"I'm still happy," he said. "I'm the same guy I was before. I'm still positive."

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