Local man's inspirational journey teaches us to overcome despite overwhelming odds

From a near deadly accident to a second chance at life.

While things seemed to be looking up for one man, nobody saw how he was struggling.

He battles every day to overcome the pain of his accident, but he is sharing his story and hoping to help others.

Denny Chipollini tells a scary story of the night that changed his life 29 years ago.

"Ended up hydroplaning into a guard rail, guard rail came through the car, put this leg - my left leg - on the dashboard," Chipollini explained.

His left leg was completely severed while the right leg was nearly removed on the scene. As he was sitting in the car, he wondered if he would make it.

"Obviously, when I saw that, my heart began pounding and the blood was rushing out at an incredible force," Chipollini said.

Doctors attempted to reattach both legs. The left leg was ultimately removed, but the prognosis for Denny still wasn't good.

"They said you're never gonna walk again without the use of some apparatus like crutches or a walker or whatever, but I just looked at the doctor and said 'You wanna bet?'" Chipollini said.

Denny began the path to recovery, but, unfortunately, the story follows a similar narrative of pain, leading to pain killers and pain killers leading to addiction.

"I needed more and more and more to the point where what I was taking, up until a few months ago, could have killed most people," Denny stated.

His recovery, honestly, was amazing. Not only did he walk, but he ran triathlons, went sky diving, became a fitness trainer and remains one into his sixties. He has overcome so many odds, but his injuries were so serious that managing the pain was a daily challenge.

"I couldn't go anywhere without my little satchel of pills and then if I didn't have them, I would panic. My God, it owned me," Denny said.

Denny told FOX 29 that sharing his story of addiction to prescription pain killers is just the next step on his journey of encouraging people in the knowledge that they can overcome.

"I'm sharing this because if I can do it, you can, too," Denny said.

It's been several months of what Denny calls natural treatments, supplements, oils and a serious fight to break the prescription drug addiction by facing the pain and sharing it with others.

"There's a lot of people that are addicted to these things. Share your pain with someone else. When you do, when you share your life, the things that are going bad in your life aren't so bad," Chipollini said.

He nearly died. He lost a leg and he faced addiction, yet he continues to inspire and share because he hopes that through these stories others will find strength, for goodness' sake.