Turning the Page: quadriplegic starts new year as a Canadian

It's the beginning of a new year: a time of renewal, of reinventionor new beginnings. Turning the Page is a week-long series of stories about starting overand moving forward,airing on CBC'sOn the Coast Jan. 2 - Jan. 5.

Gabe Chesman is starting 2018 as a Canadian.

Originally from Philadelphia, Penn.,Chesman moved from New Jersey to Vancouver in 2014 to be with the woman who is now hiswife, and just recently received permanent resident status.

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"There wasa lot holding me back in New Jersey so it wasn't like I had a lot to stay for, but at the same time it was extremely daunting," he told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko.

He faced the added challenge of figuring out a new city in a wheelchair.

A rare spinal stroke 10 years ago paralyzed him from the chest down and changed his life forever.

"I got a weird tingling sensation in my extremities and next thing I knew I was starting to lose sensation and ended up in the hospital. Things kind of went black from that point on," Chesman said.

At 21years of age when the stroke struck. Chesman saidhe was left grappling with his new reality.

"I fell into a pretty deep depression for a while, I wasn't really sure what to think or feel about it." He said it took him quite a while to come to terms with his diagnosis as his friends went out to drink at bars, newly at legal drinking age.

The next chapter of his life started after meeting his now wife online. He visited her in Vancouver and after returning home from that trip he knew the West Coast had something special.

"After a couple of years of doing the long distance I came to visit for about a month, and I was just super blown away by it."

"I was not flourishing by any means back home, so I really felt like I needed to make a change."

Chesman now works with the non-profit Spinal Cord Injury BC and said his commute by public transit is a breeze compared to when he lived in the U.S. where he struggled to find wheelchair accessible transportation.

Fighting fear

Even though the process of immigration was complicated and drawn out, he said the leap of faith was made worthwhile when the got the email confirming his permanent residency.

He recognized that a lot of his choices in the past were shaped by the fear of making big decisions, taking that leap, and now he's trying to change that going forward.

"I guess my advice would be to not let the fear dictate how you go about doing things, because it's always going to be there."

"I've found that if you can get over that it's extremely worthwhile and it ends up feeling even better that you overcame that in the long run."

To hear the full interview listen to media below:

With files from the CBC's On The Coast