After being hit by a drunk driver, a man was left with injuries that put him in a wheelchair, but that didn’t stop him from dancing with his daughter.
While Charles Potter lost his ability to walk in 2006, he’s grateful that his injuries aren’t worse. As he recalled to ABC News, after his accident, he woke up unable to move anything below his head, and once he started to heal, he had to “relearn” basic things like “crawling” and “eating.”
Charles admitted that his recovery was “super intense,” but he was determined to regain his independence. So he pushed through and found the silver lining.
“[It] kind of helped me keep a smile on my face, keep a positive attitude,” he said. “I’m still here, it could be worse. It could have been worse. So I can’t complain too much.”
Years later, he and his wife, Rhonda, welcomed their daughter, Charlize.
“She’s always questioning, she wants to know things. But she just knows her dad is in a wheelchair from being hit by a drunk driver. Pretty much. That’s it,” he said. “And she knows I’m limited to doing certain things and whatnot. And she just kind of goes with the flow.”
Daddy Daughter Dance Went Video Went Viral Over Night
Eventually, Charlize got into dance. One particular class had daddy-daughter dances, and Charlize didn’t hesitate to ask her dad to join.
“I was like, ‘If you want to. Yeah, absolutely. We’ll make it work,'” he said.
The duo got to work learning the routine and came up with creative workarounds. They only had a few weeks, but they got the moves together and showcased them during a recital. Charles and his daughter continued dancing together and posted several videos of their routines on TikTok, but one in particular went viral out of nowhere.
“We’ve shared the [performances] that happened before this one, but [they] never got this much exposure,” he said. “[After this one], We woke up the next day, and we got, like, famous people sharing it. People posting it on their stories. And it just took off.”
Charles loves that his video hit the hearts of so many, but not because he wanted to be a star. The proud father is happy to spread a message of positivity, and he hopes it makes others realize that they can live meaningful lives no matter what their circumstances.
“They say God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. So, no matter what, he’s not gonna put you through nothing that you can’t get through,” he said.”…. Just never give up. Keep your head up. Keep rolling, keep stepping. Things will get better for sure.”
You can find the source of this story’s feature image here.
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