A Wyoming mother’s life will never be the same after her 13-year-old son was paralyzed in a terrifying car crash with a street sweeper truck.
On August 1, 2024, Cindy Anzurez, 43, was driving her pickup truck with her son Gonzalo in the front, while two of her young daughters were in car seats in the back.
That morning, they were headed back to their home in Powell when Anzurez said the sun blinded her through the windshield.
The mother of five told Cowboy State Daily that she slowed down to about 30 to 35 miles per hour and tried to switch lanes when she ‘nicked the corner of a street sweeper’.
Gonzalo’s seat belt did not restrain him, and the impact launched him up into the windshield.
His C4 and C5 vertebra in his spine were injured, leaving him paralyzed from the shoulders down. He also had serious lacerations on his head and a traumatic brain injury.
Anzurez and her daughters, an 11-year-old and a two-year-old, were unharmed in the wreck and accompanied Gonzalo as he was airlifted to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver.
‘It was crazy how something so small turned into something so tragic,’ she said.
And Gonzalo’s brush with death wasn’t even the first stroke of bad luck the family had last year.
Their home flooded on Memorial Day weekend in 2024, Anzurez said. Then, on July 4, a garage fire burned the majority of the family’s possessions.
Less than a month later was the car accident, which would land Gonzalo in the hospital for the next six months.
The boy, who had been set to go to high school, initially needed a vent, tracheotomy and gastrostomy tube so he could eat.
Anzurez’s husband left the family and the state after the family was told Gonzalo would be ‘vent-dependent’ for the rest of his life.
Anzurez is now divorced and is now the sole caregiver for Gonzalo alongside her other four children.
‘He still hasn’t come to terms and doesn’t accept he has a disabled son,’ she said of her ex-husband.
And despite all of this, Anzurez still said she and her family are ‘blessed’ thanks to the people of Powell, who have continued to support them in any way they can.
This often means bringing them meals and helping the younger kids by giving them rides to their various appointments while Anzurez cares for Gonzalo.
‘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.’
Gonzalo has since made extraordinary progress in his recovery. He miraculously didn’t suffer any lasting brain damage and can now breathe on his own.
While at the hospital, his shoulders and right bicep began regaining movement. His left bicep has more recently shown signs of activating.
After leaving the hospital in January, the family was able to rent a doublewide home in Powell that had a finished garage.
It had the perfect amount of space to allow Gonzalo to maneuver around in his new wheelchair, which is controlled by his head movements.
Gonzalo has also been able to return to the ninth grade at his school thanks to a nurse and paraprofessional who have been assigned to help him on a daily basis.
‘The school actually has been so amazing here in Powell,’ Anzurez said. ‘Without the school district, I don’t know how we would have managed schooling.’
Gonzalo was an outdoorsy kid before the accident, with his mom saying he was always riding his bike or fishing.
Anzurez also described him as a ‘really good chef’ who loved to make unique recipes.
His hobbies have adjusted slightly since he was paralyzed, but he still helps his mom with meal prepping and directs his younger siblings during their fishing expeditions.
Make-A-Wish Wyoming also gifted him something called a QuadStick, a device that acts as a mouse or a video game controller for the disabled.
The foundation provided him with that, along with 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.’
Gonzalo said he has learned that life can change in a second. His outlook now is to find the humor in life while also trying to find ‘fun things’ to do to keep himself 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.