ST. LANDRY PARISH (OPELOUSAS) — Thaddeus Sam, a young man from Opelousas, is seeking help to locate his wheelchair after it fell out of the bed of his truck while driving home on Saturday night. According to his family, the wheelchair was last seen somewhere between Lafayette and Carencro, along I-49.
"The tailgate of the truck dropped, and he didn't realize it until he got to Sunset," said Elton Sam, Thaddeus’s father. "We didn’t find out about the chair until Sunday morning."
Thaddeus, who relies on his wheelchair daily, wasinvolved in a shooting accident seven years ago that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Following the shooting, he struggled emotionally and considered giving up on his passion of caring for animals and riding horses.
His outlook changed when the family adopted Levi, a young bull who has since become his companion."We bought Levi when he was just two days old," Elton said. "Thaddeus nursed him, and Levi learned all kinds of tricks to help him. Right now, Levi is like his best friend."
Thaddeus runs ‘ATC Pony Express,’ a family business that provides animals for birthday parties and other events. His father stressed the urgency of replacing the nearly $20,000 wheelchair to allow Thaddeus to continue his work and community involvement.
“People see him doing things and think he’s doing too much," Elton said. "By helping others, it brings joy to him. At one point, he felt he couldn't do anything."
Anyone with information about the missing wheelchair is encouraged to reach out to the family via this Facebook page.
