- Chance Veazey started dating Molly Mathis when he was a senior in high school, but they broke up after a few years.
- Veazey, a University of Georgia baseball player, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was hit by a car in 2009.
- He reconnected with Mathis in 2018 and they got married in 2020, where Veazey's friends helped him dance with his bride.
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Sometimes fairy tale endings do come true — even if they take a second chance and a little help from friends.
Dancing with your spouse at your wedding is something many couples take for granted, but it almost didn't happen for former University of Georgia baseball player Chance Veazey and his wife, Molly.
Veazey is paralyzed from the waist down and, as a viral video posted by his aunt Maria shows, he enlisted a little assistance from his friends to make that magical first dance happen.
It was a moment that had been a decade in the making.
Chance Veazey started dating Molly Mathis when he was a senior in high school.
They had known each other since they were in middle school in Tifton, Georgia. Chance was in a relationship with another girl for most of high school, but senior year they finally got together.
They even went to senior prom together.
The two went to different colleges, but they were inseparable.
Veazey had received a full ride to play baseball for the University of Georgia Bulldogs in 2009.
Veazey loved to play baseball and will always cherish the time he spent in the diamond.
"I felt like I took every pitch, every bat, every ground ball like it could be my last," Veazey said. "I just never took the game for granted."
He never got to play a regular season before he was involved in a life-changing collision. Two days earlier, he completed Fall Ball, where the incoming freshmen got a chance to prove their skills.
He hit a home run his last at bat.
On October 28, 2009, Veazey was on his way back to his dorm when a car pulled out in front of him and crashed into his motor scooter.
Veazey broke his back and severed his spinal cord. He was taken to Saint Mary's Hospital for surgery then transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where he spent two months recovering.
"It's a life-changing event you can never prepare for," he told Insider. "No amount of preparation could ever prepare you for that moment. The paralysis is not the worst part, it's losing control of your bowel and bladder."
What helped him was seeing other patients at the Shepherd Center. He realized that he was lucky and that he could still have a happy and fulfilled life. Veazey went home in January and spent the next year recovering.
He returned to campus in fall 2010.
During his recovery, Mathis was there for him.
"She would drive up every weekend to come see me and hang out with me," Veazey said.
But in 2012, three years after the accident, the couple broke up.
"When we broke up, it had nothing to do with my accident or injury," he said. "It was just where we were at in our lives and being immature."
The couple spent the next six years apart before they decided to give it another go in 2018.
Veazey and Mathis spoke and saw each other occasionally, but they dated different people during those six years.
Finally, they were both working in their hometown and decided to give each other another chance. They went to a Mexican restaurant for their second first date and stopped at Veazey's family farm on the way to greet his parents.
"We both knew about two weeks into it," he said. "We felt like we had both struck gold."
They dated about a year and half before he proposed.
They had talked about getting married when they were in their early 20s, but Veazey said fate didn't work out that way.
They knew when they started dating again, things were different.
"It has to be better than ever," he said. "We didn't want to be like we were. We had to start completely fresh."
Veazey got the idea for the dance after watching a video of another paralyzed man doing the same.
"I wasn't sure if it would work so I ordered some Velcro straps offline, and called a couple buddies over to my house and it worked," he said.
They practiced at least three times at his house after work, trying to see how long he could dance for while strapped to them. Mathis knew what he had planned, but he didn't let her see him practice.
"You try to think about what it's going to be like when you're up there in front of 380 people and dancing with your wife for the first time," he said.
Dancing with his wife was a moment Veazey said he will never forget.
He's watched the video about 50 times and replayed the moment in his head — but it never gets old.
"It was a magical moment and one I will be able to look back on forever," he said.
Veazey's mom was emotional as she also got the opportunity to dance with her son.
"After about a minute, my mom came out there and I danced with her," Veazey said. "That was really special for me too. After all the hard work she had done for the wedding, but you know too, just everything she's done for me all my life."
What's next for the couple? Veazey said he wants to have children soon.
"I dreamed last night we had a baby boy," Chance said. He texted Molly about his dream. "Most of the time I don't have great dreams for some reason, but last night was a good one."
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