Optimism still reigns in the outlook and words of a 43-year-old mother of five in Powell, Wyoming, and her oldest son, whose devastating accident capped a bad three months that turned their family’s world upside down.
It began when their property flooded on Memorial Day weekend in 2024, Cindy Anzurez said.
Then on July 4, the family’s possessions burned up in a garage fire. Less than a month later on Aug. 1, Anzurez’s then 13-year-old son Gonzalo was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a life-changing car accident.
While Gonzalo spent the next six months in a Denver hospital recovering, Anzurez’s husband couldn’t handle the pressure and left the family and the state.
They are now divorced.
“He still hasn’t come to terms and doesn’t accept he has a disabled son,” said Anzurez, who also cares for four other children besides Gonzalo.
Despite having every right to be mad at God and life for being dealt an unfair hand, Anzurez said she and the family are “blessed.”
That’s because the people of Powell haven’t abandoned them and have rallied around the family. That’s happened in many ways, like bringing meals and helping the family’s younger children with rides along with other needs.
“Our community is just so amazing, and we couldn’t have done it without them,” she said. “I think we’re just so lucky to have (Gonzalo) still be here and we’re just looking to keep moving forward.”
Blinded By The Sun
Anzurez characterizes Gonzalo before the accident as someone who was always outdoors on his bicycle fishing, making things from “random” materials to create something functional, and a “really good chef” who enjoyed putting recipes together.
He bought a Schwinn covered wagon that he connected to his bike to haul things, and sometimes people and their groceries if there was a need.
“He was always riding around town with that thing towed behind him, hauling his friends, hauling his siblings, or just picking up stuff that he (found),” she said.
The wagon was in the garage when it burned on July 4.
She said her son was one of the most “independent young men I’ve ever known at 13.” He enjoyed chess and participating in the junior high robotics program.
Then on Aug. 1, 2024, she was driving a pickup into Powell early in the morning when the sun blinded her through the windshield.
Anzurez said she slowed down to 30 or 35 mph and tried to adjust her lane position when she “nicked the corner of a street sweeper” machine.
Gonzalo, who was sitting in the front seat with other children in a back seat, had his seat belt on.
But it didn’t restrain him as he was launched up into the windshield. He suffered a C4 and C5 vertebra spinal cord injury paralyzing him from the shoulders down. He also had lacerations on his head and a traumatic brain injury.
Anzurez said the first passerby was a first responder on the way to work who helped secure Gonzalo and get her daughters out of the back of the truck. He was flown to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver.
“It was crazy how something so small turned into something so tragic,” Anzurez said.
How Are My Sisters?
Gonzalo spent the next six months at the hospital and initially required a vent, tracheotomy and gastrostomy tube for feeding.
His parents were told he would be “vent-dependent” for the rest of his life, she said.
His first words after the accident were to ask how his sisters were.
Anzurez said it was a miracle that he didn’t suffer any enduring brain damage when he hit the windshield.
Gonzalo has since exceeded expectations.
He now has enough core muscle to breathe on his own and stay off the vent, and his shoulders and right bicep started to regain movement at the hospital. His left bicep recently has shown signs of activating.
“He just works hard to keep strengthening and strengthening,” Anzurez said.
Back To School
In January, she said Gonzalo was released from the hospital, but the family — an 11-year-old daughter, 9-year-old son, and 5- and 2-year-old daughters — needed a home where Gonzalo could use his wheelchair, and a room appropriate for other needed medical devices.
They found a doublewide mobile home to rent in Powell that had a converted one-car garage that now serves as Gonzalo’s room.
Anzurez went to school and earned a certified nursing assistant certificate to be his primary care provider at home. Staff from the school district also got training at the hospital so Gonzalo could safely go back to school.
“The school actually has been so amazing here in Powell,” she said. “Without the school district, I don’t know how we would have managed schooling."
Gonzalo was able to catch up on the months of school he missed. He has a nurse and paraprofessional who help him be able to join his class for their ninth-grade year.
Gonzalo said he enjoys being back with his classmates and feels a little “awkward at times” when he is “in the way,” but overall things are good.
His motorized wheelchair is controlled by his head movements, which allow him to go left or right or adjust speed.
While he was at the hospital in Denver, he learned about the QuadStik, which for the disabled can act as a mouse or gaming controller via voice commands. It has sip and puff sensors, a joystick and a lip button.
Make-A-Wish Wyoming learned about Gonzalo and asked him what kind of wish he wanted. He asked for the QuadStik.
QuadStik Gift
The organization provided the QuadStik, a computer, 3D printer and “man cave” setup for his room.
“The QuadStik has helped me a lot in exploring my possibilities to create things,” Gonzalo said. “It was hard at first, but once I started tackling it, it has become increasingly easier.”
He said he enjoys trying to play games on the computer.
Before the accident he didn’t spend much time inside, but he knows that his abilities to adapt his mouth and breath to make the QuadStik act like a computer mouse are a key skill for the future.
Anzurez said the device and the computer from Make-A-Wish have given her son some of his “independence” back and helped him access the world.
“It’s been huge, not just for his day-to-day, but also for his future capabilities,” she said.
As an outdoor and hunting enthusiast, Gonzalo said he recently had the opportunity to bag a turkey using a “sip and puff” shotgun through the Polestar Outdoors organization in Cody.
He said he puffed into a tube attached to a machine that triggers a shotgun, and bagged his turkey on a hunt in the Ten Sleep area.
Gonzalo also helps his mom by doing meal planning by going on the Walmart app to help decide on groceries.
“I’m a bit of a cooking nerd, so I also make sure for certain recipes that I want to do to get the right ingredients,” he said.
While he can’t actually do the cooking, he can provide direction. He also enjoys spending time outside helping direct his siblings on little fishing expeditions.
Working Mom
Anzurez said she provides for her son’s nursing and physical needs while he is at home.
He is required to have 24-hour care, but Wyoming does not offer pediatric in-home care. There is no respite care for her.
She works a job out of the home when her children are in school, but that is ending in the near future.
Anzurez is thinking about starting a laundry business out of the home to keep their lives moving forward.
Some days are harder than others, but she remains thankful that her son is alive and making progress.
“There’s always someone in a worse situation,” she said. “We’re just happy and blessed to have each other. You have to look at those silver linings.”
Gonzalo said he has learned through his accident that life can change in an instant. He said humor helps him navigate his new life and he tries to find “fun things” to keep him occupied.
“We don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, so why don’t we just enjoy today to the best of our abilities,” he said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
