EAST TEXAS-- Studies show one in seven people now living in U.S. nursing homes are under the age of 65.  That number has jumped 22 percent in eight years. 

For 50-year-old Ronny Malone, it was his only option.  Malone got in a car wreck when he was 37 that crushed his bones and broke his neck.  He says he came to Oak Brook nursing home in Whitehouse shortly after.

Experts say medical advances are keeping more people like Malone alive after traumatic injuries--a reason they say it is now common to find people in nursing homes who are decades younger than their neighbors.

Malone is one of 16 residents under the age of 65 at Oak Brook.