Man paralyzed after accident shares fatherhood journey: 'Blessing in disguise'
“These were things that I thought about and didn't have no one to look to."
A Texas dad is sharing his fatherhood journey and his life as a wheelchair user to inspire and offer hope to others.
Anthony Sanchez became a father nearly a decade ago, about seven months after a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the chest down. At the time, he said there were so many questions running through his head.
"When things like this happen, you stay in your head. Like, 'My life's over. I'm never going to be able to do this. How am I going to push a stroller? … How am I going to put the baby in a high chair?' There's so many things," Sanchez told "Good Morning America."
In October 2014, Sanchez was riding a motorcycle when he went over a curb too quickly and he was sent flying through the air before he said he blacked out.
"[I] woke up in the hospital … with them telling me … I was alive and I didn't suffer a brain injury but the bad news was that I compressed my T-4 spinal cord," Sanchez recalled, adding that doctors had told him he had a burst fracture and some of his bones had pressed into his spinal cord.
Sanchez said after the traumatic spinal cord injury, he struggled with depression and excessive weight gain, and his relationship with his daughter's mother ended. But today, he credits his daughter, whom he co-parents, for helping him overcome many of his challenges.
"After the two-year mark, I was like, 'You know what? I got to do something about this and I can't just let my life go away. I have a daughter who's a baby now and I can't let her see me like this as she gets older,'" said Sanchez. "She was really my motivation to find my happiness and find my peace so I can be able to accept this injury and be the best man and father I can be."
Along the way, Sanchez also began to share more of his life on social media and today, he's the content creator known as @wheelchairpapi on Instagram and TikTok, where he has over 1 million followers.
"I could've never envisioned where I would be today," he said.
Sanchez raises awareness for spinal cord injuries and gives followers an inside look at his life as a wheelchair user, an actor, a model and more importantly, as a dad.
"I really think that me sharing my father-daughter journey is one of my biggest, most impactful things that I do," he said. "These were things that I thought about and didn't have no one to look to."
Even though a spinal cord injury left him with countless questions at first, Sanchez also said it has since opened many doors for him, too.
"I feel like being paralyzed has also been a blessing in disguise because I feel like I have a purpose now and I'm helping people from all across the world," he said, noting that September is also Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month.
"I just want people to know, no matter what happens in life, to never give up," he added. "Keep pushing literally, like what I have to do literally, and always remember, 'If Ant can, I can.'"