A U.S. Marine who was left quadriplegic after he was shot during his second tour of Iraq has become a father for the first time, against all odds.
Just 21 when he was stationed in the war-torn city of Fallujah, Visnu Gonzalez was stood in the corporal clearing houses in April 2004, when a bullet from a Taliban sniper severed his spinal chord.
Left paralyzed from the neck down with limited arm movement, Gonzales, now 36, said that though his future was thrown into doubt, one thing remained clear: 'I always knew I'd become a father,' he said to GMA.
After meeting his wife, Sahily Machado, 34, during a vacation in the Dominican Republic nine-years-ago, the pair were determined to become parents, but both faced a number of fertility issues.
Doctors said their only options were vitro fertilization or artificial insemination, two forms of IVF treatment.
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Visnu Gonzalez (right) and Sahily Machado (left) overcame overwhelming odds to become parents for the first time, with the help of New York doctor, Tomer Singer (middle)
During a his second tour of Iraq, Gonzales (above) was struck by a sniper, with the bullet severing his spine
Parenthood, the couple thought, seemed impossible. But it all changed when they met with Dr. Tomer Singer of the Lenox Hill hospital in New York.
By coincidence, Singer had himself been conceived by artificial insemination after his father had been shot in the neck and left paralyzed in the Israeli military, in the 1960s.
'Immediately, we had this bond,' Singer told the Daily News. 'I shared my story with them and we all cried a little bit.
'My father was a painter. He painted with his mouth as rehabilitation. I had paintings in my office showing how you can overcome all kinds of struggles and I think it helped Visnu feel more comfortable with me,' he continued.
Gonzales - who joined the Marines after 9/11 - says as soon as he met with Singer, he knew he was the doctor to help turn
