A Castaic man traveled over 3,000 miles across the country, becoming the first person to travel coast-to-coast in a standard wheelchair.

In 2013, Gabriel Cordell embarked from Santa Monica on a 3,100-mile journey to New York, recording the trip as part of a Netflix documentary “Roll With Me.”

“I just wanted to see what I was capable of doing,” said Cordell. “This isn’t just a story about disabilities, it’s a story about the human spirit.”

The Castaic resident pushed himself across 13 states in a 100-day expedition, with an RV and a film crew in tow, enduring triple-digit temperatures.

“There were times I wanted to give up, but I kept on going,” he said. “When you want to surrender is the time you need to push yourself.”

Cordell was born in Libya and moved to Long Island, New York as a child with his family.

“From a young age, I always wanted to inspire people,” he explained. “I wanted to be extraordinary.”

He dreamed of becoming an actor and at the age of 22, Cordell landed his first professional audition.

“Acting was the vehicle I found to spread that inspiration,” he said. “It gives me a platform to reach the most amount of people.”

Bur Cordell did not get the role, en-route to the audition, he was in a crash where he was ejected from the vehicle, paralyzing him from the waist down.

“The accident changed the course of my life,” he said. “It put everything in perspective.”

Cordell spent the next six months in rehab, near the pediatric wing, recovering from the crash.

“Those kids, as young as six months old, were dealing with so much,” he said. “Then there was me who already had 22 years of a normal life.”

After his recovery, Cordell persevered, moving to Los Angeles to continue his dream of becoming an actor, later appearing in several shows including “CSI” and “Dexter.”

“I really enjoyed the craft of acting,” he explained. “It was nice, but it didn’t last forever.”

His acting jobs decreased, and by his 30’s Cordell turned to drugs leading to a five-year bender of cocaine and methamphetamine.

“During that time in my life, I hit rock bottom,” he admitted. “I needed to make a change in my life.”

Cordell made a promise to himself at a young age, that by the time he was 45 he would “make something of his life.”

But at the age of 42, he was sitting in the intensive care unit with severe burns to his leg, after he got too close to a barbeque while high on meth.

“Sitting in that ICU was a wake-up call,” he said. “I knew I had to do something.”

A few days after getting released from the hospital, Cordell was approached by a person wanting his input on a new wheelchair he was developing.

Cordell tested the chair and a year later it was ready for development.

“I first wanted to roll across California in the new chair,” he said. “Then I started to research if anyone had gone across the entire country.”

In 1985, two people crossed the country in a “modified” wheelchair with heavy-duty tires and extra handles for support.

Cordell is the first to make the cross-country trip in a standard wheelchair.

“I wanted to use my everyday chair,” he said. “If they saw me on the road, I wanted people to see themselves.”

Cordell was joined by his nephew, a Hart High School graduate, who was addicted to drugs and going down the wrong path.

“The road was his rehab,” Cordell said. “His first day was zero days sober and he stayed sober the entire trip.”

The journey was long-fought, rolling across highways in freezing temperatures in all hours of the night, and under the blazing sun.

“There were many times along the way I wanted to give up and give in,” he said. “But those are the times you need to persevere.”

He met new people every day on the adventure, stopping in dozens of cities and towns across 13 states.

“Everywhere we went people stopped and talked with us,” Cordell said. “This journey was not just about me, it became a story about America.”

Cordell has used his experiences to inspire others, giving speeches at schools and organizations across the country to let people know that no matter what happens in life, you can overcome.

“There are times when you want to stop, he said. “But those are the times that define you.”

To watch the full “Roll With Me” documentary on Netflix, click here.

For more information about Gabriel Cordell, visit his website here.

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