By Stephanie Gauthier 鈥� Contributor.

Corey smiles easily. He laughs and he curses, and he鈥檚 hard not to like.

鈥淚鈥檓 a joker,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檒l do something so stupid out of the blue to put a smile on someone鈥檚 face.鈥�

This is true for the staff at Ellis Place, a subsidized, supportive housing site in 琉璃神社 where he now lives, just as it鈥檚 true for the people he鈥檚 shared emergency shelter spaces with over the years.

Time evaporates when speaking with Corey, especially when the conversation turns to motorcycles. He loves riding them and building them. He scrolls through photos on his phone, stopping on a video of himself riding a custom bike.

Corey uses a hand-operated clutch to shift gears in the video. He does so because he doesn鈥檛 have legs. They were both amputated above the knee in 2010. He doesn鈥檛 complain about this misfortune or feel sorry for himself. He jokes about it instead. He says it helps put people at ease.

鈥淲hat disability?鈥� He pads the seat of his chair in mock surprise. 鈥淢y legs, oh god, where鈥檇 my legs go?鈥�

Corey has a hereditary blood clotting disorder that led to the amputations. He shrugs about it now, saying he wouldn鈥檛 take back his legs even if he could.

鈥淚 do more with no legs than I ever did with them.鈥�

Corey has a long history with drugs. He used cocaine for ten years and opiates for 25, but he鈥檚 put all of that behind him.

鈥淚 still like to get some coolers on the weekend,鈥� he said. But, he鈥檚 left the harder substances in the past and he鈥檚 changed his lifestyle in a lot of other ways. He volunteers with his church now instead of running with motorcycle gangs. These changes tie back to Corey鈥檚 mother, who died from lung cancer in 2017.

鈥淚 was at her side when she passed away,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he always said to me, 鈥榣ife鈥檚 too short to be miserable, laughter鈥檚 the best medicine, and pay it forward.鈥�

Corey has lived at Ellis Place since December 2021. Before that, he was in an emergency shelter.

鈥淚n the shelter, you鈥檙e just in open pods so if you go to the washroom people are in your pod stealing. Here you have a locked door and workers that look out for you.鈥�

Visit the to read the rest of Corey鈥檚 story.

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