Paralyzed in shooting years ago, Angelo Perez now races and inspires others

CBS Chicago is the proud sponsor of Chicago's Race Against Gun Violence in Grant Park, organized every year by the nonprofit Strides for Peace.

The run raises money for organizations working to prevent violence.

For the first time this year, adaptive sports organization Dare2Tri is joining the race. Among those involved who Dare2Tri who race with handcycles is one athlete whose fight to survive became a mission to help others going forward.

Angelo Perez, a Chicago native, grew up between Pilsen and Gage Park. Like many young people in his neighborhood at the time, he was drawn into gang life.

In 1991, everything changed.

"I went to go visit someone who got out of jail. Some guys pull up in the car, scream at a guy parked. He said something to them, and he started shooting, and I got hit," said Perez. "Instantly paralyzed, no pain."

Perez was in his 20s when gun violence left him in a wheelchair for life. But more than three decades later, he refuses to let that moment define him.

"It was a desire to live," he said.

That fight eventually led him to Dare2tri — a Chicago-based organization helping people with disabilities push past limits through adaptive sports.

"How do we get people living with disabilities to live healthy, active lives in the communities in which they live, and alongside the people they love?" said Dare2Tri cofounder Keri Serota.

For Perez, that community changed everything.

"It went from me rolling in my wheelchair on the lakefront to me doing the Chicago Marathon in the past couple of years," he said.

Perez said the road back wasn't easy. After his injury, he struggled for years with addiction and self-doubt.

But he kept pushing — earning his GED, graduating from college, and now mentoring young athletes through Dare2Tri.

"He's out at our kids' camp being a role model for other youth in wheelchairs that look at him, and they're like: 'Wow! That could be me one day,'" said Serota.

Perez said adaptive sports taught him resilience, both on and off the road.

"They say if you don't stop, you just continue. You never give up," Perez said. "You never know when you're going to cross that finish line."

And now, as Dare2tri joins the Race Against Gun Violence for the first time, Perez hopes his story reminds others they don't have to fight alone.

"There is a whole community to support you," he said.  "It's a fight, but it's a fight worth having."

The Race Against Gun Violence takes place this weekend along Chicago's lakefront, with proceeds supporting dozens of community organizations focused on prevention, intervention, and recovery efforts across the city.