Among the songs Gerry Marinucci is relearning on his piano is "Amazing Grace."

It seems fitting.

"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me;

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see."

Bleeding, broken and left for dead on a busy Murrieta roadway in mid-March by a hit-and-run driver, the father of three was officially discharged a week ago from a rehabilitation center in San Bernardino -- one of about a half dozen medical centers he'd been in over seven months -- and is back with his family in Murrieta.

"He'd been allowed to come home for an afternoon here and an hour there," said his wife Lori. "But now he's really home."

Gerry was struck from behind about 5:45 a.m. on March 17 as he rode his bicycle in the bike lane on California Oaks Road.

The driver of the late 1980s gray BMW that hit him, later identified as Federico Baltazar, 27, of Apple Valley, fled the scene, dragging Marinucci's bicycle under the vehicle for more than a mile.

Marinucci, who was wearing a helmet, suffered major head injures. For days following the accident, it was not known if would live.

Baltazar was arrested the next day and pleaded guilty to the crime. He has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Gerry lay in a coma, his brain seriously damaged, until mid-June, when he showed the first signs of being able to speak, understand and eventually get out of bed for short walks.

Faith and friends have sustained the family since the accident, Lori said.

There is still much work to do. Next week, Gerry begins therapy two or three days each week at an Escondido rehab center.

"He is able to walk without a walker, but he still has some balance problems," Lori said. "He is understanding a lot more, but his frustration comes in getting the words out."

But there is also joy when he sits with his three daughters, ages 11, 10 and 7 -- all of whom the couple adopted from Russia -- and helps them learn English.

"He's able to help them with the basic information," said Lori. "They're really happy to have him home."

Her husband's memory is improving every day, she said.

"Where did all the trees go?" he asked recently on a car trip along Murrieta Hot Springs Road, where a stand of eucalyptus trees had given way to yet another development.

Gerry's sense of humor is still intact.

"I sense a new addiction coming on," he said when he caught a whiff of sweetness as the car passed the Krispy Kreme donut shop in Temecula.

And his ability to play music is returning.

"His guitar playing is just starting to come back, and the piano is getting better," Lori said.

Including his keyboard work on an inspirational favorite.

"Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;

"Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home."

Contact columnist John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603 or hunneman@californian.com.