EDMONTON -- An Edmonton man and his family will have a Christmas to remember, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
In July, James Felisilda made a wrong move while he was mountain biking that proved to be life-changing.
"I made a mistake and it twisted me 360 degrees and put me here, but still thankful because right now I'm still above the grass," he said. "I feel it right away, because when I was down, I saw my cousin and I saw my arms and legs flat to the ground."
The accident left Felisilda paralyzed from the neck down and in a wheelchair, having sustained a spinal cord injury at the third and fourth cervical vertebrae when he landed on his neck.
He underwent emergency surgery, before spending four months at the Glenrose Hospital in rehabilitation.
Felisilda and his family were now facing a new reality of getting around, however they couldn’t afford a vehicle retrofitted for a wheelchair.
But an anonymous donor has given the family a gift to be thankful for this holiday season—a $70,000 accessible van.
“Whoever that guy is, thank you. Thank you, hopefully I can thank you personally one day."
“We can still go long drives for vacation with me, so I can be always with them,” he said. “Without a mobility van, they could go somewhere else, and I’ll be stuck in the house.”
The van was donated to Spinal Cord Injury Alberta, a not-for-profit organization that provides services and support to people with spinal cord injuries.
The anonymous donor wanted the van to go to a deserving home, so the organization chose Felisilda.
“He is a tremendous human being and he is recovering very well. It's hard to get back from things like this,” said Olle Lagerquist with Spinal Cord Injury Alberta.
The gift is already making an impact, with James’s wife, Roda, getting him to medical appointments and even their kids’ Christmas concert.
The family is grateful for the donation, however Felisilda can’t stop thinking about how the van would help others in the same situation as him.
“I know that everyone, all my buddies there in Glenrose need ones as well,” he said.
“There’s just some good people out there man. If you receive a gift like this, it’s really, words cannot explain.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson