Here's my story of how I got paralyzed and overcame my situation:

March 21, 2000, I was on my way to an auto parts store from school in Las Vegas, NV. I was approaching an intersection. Our light turned green (I was the passenger), as we went through the intersection and made it about 3/4 of the way through when a car ran a red light, striking my door and breaking my neck at C5, C6 & C7  leaving me a quadriplegic. The actual level of spinal cord injury was between C6 & C7. I was in trauma/ICU for about 1 week. I was then transferred to Craig Hospital spinal cord injury rehab in Englewood, CO. I did intensive inpatient rehab for 2 months followed by 2 years of outpatient rehab in Las Vegas at Help Them Walk Again. 

In 2017, I went to a self development leadership program that completely changed my life around. For 17 years I was completely lost trying to find myself and after going through this program I found myself and started creating my purpose. My purpose to inspire others has always been there. I've always inspired the people around me. Once going through the program and fully accepting myself I was then able to start sharing my woodworking creations and experiences which help me fulfill my purpose to inspire the world. A lot of the things I had to work through were limiting beliefs that I had made up for myself. I had no faith in myself to do anything like this. My first thought having no use of any of my fingers was...HOW??? I broke down that belief system and started focusing on all the things I CAN do and finding different mechanisms to accomplish multiple tasks and stopped focusing on the things I couldn't do due to quadriplegia. About 2 years ago, I set up a woodshop in my garage and created my very first cutting board. After completing the self development trainings, I have been able to push beyond where I limited myself. I know I'm on the right path. The energy I feel through the whole process is priceless. Not only do I enjoy woodworking, but I now know my purpose. I can't tell you how many setbacks I have on a daily basis due to my paralysis, but when you're doing what you love, you make it happen. It's no longer a setback. It's just the process. 

As I found my purpose and felt like things were finally falling into place, on February 24th, 2021, I received a phone call that Tara was involved in a horrific car accident. Unfortunately, we never got the chance to try again.  Tara caused a fatal car accident eventually resulting in her own death. She sustained major head trauma and she held on through until March 21st, 2021 the same date I was paralyzed 21 years prior. Since the training, I have looked at this date as a blessing in disguise and I really believe she held on till this day so I could also see this as a blessing in disguise. It's too hard to see it right now or even think about as a blessing but is has helped me cope through this tragedy. I had a quote that I used on a daily basis that helped me get started into woodworking and I find myself using it now when I'm caught up in my head thinking about Tara.