He walked up to the plate, planted his left back foot into the ground and took a practice swing. He’d been waiting for this moment – the moment that would seal his place as a starter on his college’s baseball team.
“I hit a home run at my last at bat. Not knowing it was my last at bat,” Chance Veazey told CNN.
Two days later, he was struck by a car on his way to his dorm room. He was paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors said he could never walk again. But now, more than 10 years later, he danced at his wedding this month.
The day his life changed
For as long as he could remember, Veazey wanted a chance to start on a Division I baseball team, he said. At the University of Georgia, he had that chance.
Before the season started, the university team had in-game scrimmages for players to prove themselves. Veazey earned a starting spot.
That was on October 26, 2009. Two days later, his life changed when he was riding a scooter in Athens, home to the university.
“I hit the pavement really hard and I crashed into the side of the car,” he remembered. “Laying there on the concrete, I didn’t know the severity of my situation.”
Veazey was Instantly paralyzed from the waist down. His back and spinal cord were broken.
His wedding day
Veazey wasn’t going to let his injury stop him. Using a wheelchair, he resumed as much of his normal life as possible. He, however, could not stand or walk without support. And his baseball days were over.
He graduated from college, got a job and fell in love.
As he was making preparations for his wedding, Veazey saw a video of a man in a wheelchair who used leg straps to dance with his wife.
He wanted to do the same for his big day.
The insurance agent, working in his hometown of Tifton, ordered leg straps, and called his two best friends to come over to practice. They practiced for about two days, he said.
The wedding day came: January 18 of this year. And a video that his aunt posted captured the moment.
The guests cheered as his two friends lifted him up. Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” started playing and his wife Molly put her arms around him. She laid her head on his shoulder and they danced.
“It was the best moment of my life,” he said. “It gave me a sense of pride and fulfillment that I didn’t think was possible.”
It hasn’t been easy for Veazey, 29, who remains paralyzed, but he’s grateful to still be alive to have these moments.