Paralyzed by a taking pictures, he now helps others with disabilities take management of their lives

Paralyzed by a shooting, he now helps others with disabilities take control of their lives

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On January 14, 2012, Hamilton got caught up in an altercation with a stranger outside an apartment complex. The man shot Hamilton twice in his abdomen.

When the bullets pierced his body, he thought he was going to die.

“I laid on that ground taking my last breaths, having regrets about life,” he said, “because it wasn’t until that moment that I realized I had never lived.”

Hamilton survived, suffering a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. At 24, he became “a single father in a wheelchair,” he said — adjusting to a new life faced with new challenges.

“I felt hopeless and useless,” Hamilton said. “It defeated me.”

A year later, Hamilton was diagnosed with a pressure ulcer on his tailbone from the extended hours of sitting. He underwent six surgeries and spent the next two years confined to bed rest.

In the years following his injury, Hamilton said he became dangerously overweight, depressed and suicidal.

It was his daughter, Navaeh, who ultimately became his…

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