BOISE -- The lives of a Meridian family were turned upside down on Easter Sunday when a young father of two and local physical therapist severed his spinal cord in an ATV accident at the sand dunes in St. Anthony.
He's now paralyzed from the waist down, but he's not limiting himself. Chris Hansen is staying positive and persevering. Hansen is incredibly hopeful and recovering and doing rehab at St. Luke's Elks for four to six weeks. He tells us he would like to gain something back and prove people wrong, but he's making the best out of what he's been handed.
More than anything the Hansens want to say "thank you" to everyone who's lifted them up so far.
"If I could just bend my leg that I would be able to get a little more comfortable then when I tried to bend my legs I realized I couldn't bend my legs," Hansen told KTVB.
Coming off a small jump, he landed wrong and was thrown off a four-wheeler he wasn't used to riding.
"It wasn't anything you think of being that big of a deal," he said.
Hansen laid in the sand for a little before first responders and an air ambulance got there.
"As the time went you are going through more of checklist in your head of oh, this hurt my back to oh, I really hurt my back to this is probably a lot worse than what I want it to be type of thing," Hansen said.
Hansen says it wasn't until he got to the hospital, had scans done and underwent surgery to fuse his spine that he and his wife, Chelsea, really realized what he was facing.
"Basically like from the belt line below there's not any feeling or function there for anything," he said.
Hansen says he was told he likely wouldn't walk again.
"It's hard because when somebody tells you you can't or you're probably not going to be able to do this again, that's a big change in lifestyle. But there's still a lot of things that I can do, that I'll be OK," Hansen added.
His game is to prove that he can before he says that he can't.
"Whatever he is supposed to get back we know he'll get back. And really, whatever Chris wants I do know he can achieve. There's nothing stopping him," Chelsea said.
His positivity is tangible.
"Things could have been a lot worse," Chris told us. "We will see what happens over time. Maybe some of it comes back, maybe it doesn't. But that's as of right now. I'm kind of lucky because it was low in the thoracic spine."
"I've always known Chris as a positive person... We just celebrated our 10-year anniversary on April 5 and I've known him for about 12 years. And even when he was fully healthy, or however you want to state it, he's always been positive," Chelsea said. "I do think it's only just going to carry him further in this experience, in this trial. He's going to come out better because he is so positive."
"With the amount of support I've seen from family and friends and the community, people I don't even know, like, is overwhelming with everything," Chris said. "It keeps you motivated going forward."
The family is thanking everyone for their unwavering support in the form of meals, donations, services, kind words and love.
"I know they have sacrificed something so that we could be a little bit better off and I can't say thank you enough. Really thank you is not even sufficient to cover what I know they've done on our behalf," Chelsea said.
With a 3-year-old little girl and an 8-year-old boy, they all have to be strong for each other.
"We're closer as a family. I do know that. We're only going to get stronger and stronger as a family and get closer and closer," Chelsea said.
"When I go home I want to be able to contribute in my house. I have a 3-year-old girl and 8-year old-boy and I don't want to be another kid in the house. I don't want somebody to take care of me. I want to be able to help keep taking care of my family with everything that I want to do," Hansen added. "You're either going to still help them live life and enjoy things or you're going to be the person that drags them down."
He said he wants to make sure he can still provide for and protect his family the same way he always has. Fortunately, Chelsea and Chris say his occupation as a physical therapist and owner of his PT clinic allows him to continue moving forward without the use of his legs.
"There are a lot of other things I can do so I'm fortunate I can still do a lot of stuff and I can modify things," Chris told KTVB.
"Sometimes it's easy to forget how blessed we are and how lucky we are to have the things we have and live in the area we live in and experience the things we do," Chelsea added. "I know for me it's made me take a step back and realize life is precious and we are so very lucky to have him still with us. And those are things I did not recognize every day. I was not thankful for life."
Family set up a You Caring page for the Hansens and it's already raised almost $26,000.
There's also a LulaRoe fundraiser for the family going on now through Saturday.
