MEBANE, N.C. — Just looking at Eric Gabriel’s upper half, you wouldn’t know he lives each day without his legs.

“What are my choices?” Gabriel said. “I could roll over and play dead, or I could better myself.”

And better himself, he does. Gabriel is a competetive rower who participated in the World Indoor Rowing Championship in Boston in 2020

“It’s an escape for me, and it gives me a feeling of accomplishment every day, whether I row one mile or I row five miles,” he said.

He rows miles every day but never leaves his house, using a rowing machine.

“After 22, 23 right knee operations and a knee replacement, that got infected,” Gabriel said. “Then on my left leg, I had lymphedema and that got infected, and I wound up losing both my legs.”

After serious wear and tear from softball and baseball over the years, his legs gave up.

Gabriel is one of nearly two million amputees in the United States. He’s a double-amputee, and like his counterparts, he now has to rely on expensive equipment.

“Prosthetics are very, very expensive,” Gabriel said. “My prosthetics cost over $100,000.”

Plus, he can’t even really use them because they cause him too much pain. But one assistive device he can use is his chairlift.

“I had not been to my office upstairs for almost three years,” he said.

The chairlift was an escape within his own house. Even with it though, it’s hard not to feel a little claustrophobic.

“Last time I left my house was last October, so we’re talking what, four months ago,” Gabriel said. “I don’t have a vehicle. I don’t have any way to drive. I desperately would like to get a hand-controlled van or vehicle.”

His wife left last November, and since then, life has been, well, repetitive.

“Groundhog Day,” Gabriel said with a laugh. “Other than Sonny and Cher singing in the morning, it’s the same thing every day.”

He does a workout and then heads up to his office. The room has a desk, a computer and baseball pictures; dozens of baseball pictures.  

“My office up here is my sanctuary where I have my baseball legends around me,” Gabriel said. “They inspire me and motivate me.”

Seeing them inspired him to start Gabriel’s Row — a website that gives him a platform to write about his journey.

“Keeping the door open for other people with a disability to say, ‘C’mon, the water’s fine. We can do this,’” Gabriel said.

He received his doctorate from Grand Canyon University in 2019 and wants to use it to teach in person. But Gabriel still has obstacles he needs to overcome, the biggest of which is getting out of his house.

So, he started a GoFundMe to buy himself a van and start inspiring the world, one student at a time.

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