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My Story

My name is Daniel. I grew up in South Florida as a good student, an athlete, and loyal friend. On August 15th, 2009, I was the passenger in a motor vehicle accident where the pickup truck I was in hydroplaned over wet roads and into a tree. I remember the whiplash vividly. My head snapped forward and back, damaging my spinal cord at the C6 level just along the base of the neck. My body instantly went numb upon impact, my ears rang and vision blurred. Then there was the neck pain. I touched my leg. Nothing. No feeling. No movement. I knew it almost immediately: I was paralyzed. I was airlifted to the local trauma hospital where I spent the next 3 months in recovery and rehab. My official diagnosis is a spinal cord injury at the C6-C7 level. My hands have limited function and I have no feeling or movement below the nipples. I had to learn a new way of life. Everything I ever knew about life was now just a bit different. I’d have to learn to use the bathroom differently, bathe differently, learn to push a wheelchair, even learn to hold a fork differently. Luckily, I look at life as an opportunity. Even in this new perspective I was determined to achieve some sort of normalcy. I learned to drive again, went back to school, and got into wheelchair sports. I realized I could still enjoy life despite my disability. It wasn’t too long after when a girl named Valerie heard my story and decided to reach out to me to say “hello.” As life and destiny would have it, our hearts grew fond of each other and our romance blossomed. Fast forward 10 years and here we are. We are a family of 3 and have travelled to so many cool places in this beautiful world. Val and I have a passion to enable and encourage others to live life to the fullest despite their obstacles. That’s why we started Accessible Vacations. This NPO is our way to show the world how to live life and how to overcome obstacles. We all have different struggles, but by sharing ours we hope we might inspire others to overcome theirs. So welcome to Accessible Vacations. We hope you find our content useful to make your life as fulfilling as we know it can be!