After hours of surgery on both broken legs, Jeremi Sensky sat in a hospital bed and began putting together the pieces of his life that was shattered on New Year’s Day.

The 51-year-old father from Pennsylvania was ringing in the New Year in New Orleans when a gunman raced down Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and wounding dozens more. In the chaos, Sensky – who was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident several years ago – was thrown from his wheelchair and broke both of his legs.

“I didn’t know if I would make it here and everyone helped me. I got everyone back together,” Sensky told ABC News’ Whit Johnson. “I’m lucky to be alive, man.”

As the white pickup truck sped down the street, Sensky said he couldn’t figure out what was causing the commotion. He said he initially thought it was an explosion.

“Someone yelled behind me and I turned around and heard a loud noise,” he said.

“The next thing I remember I was lying on the floor and my leg was completely limp, like it was broken,” he said. “I lifted my leg with my hand. It was like I was bending the pieces and I didn’t know what was going on.”

While the fall broke several bones and ultimately required hours of surgery, his position on the ground may have saved his life as the gunman began firing at bystanders.

“I heard shots and kept thinking: I hope I’m not in the way of the shots. “I hope I’m low enough to the ground to not get in the way of the shots,” he said.

When the shooting stopped, Sensky was still on the ground and said he screamed for help “as loud as he could” and had difficulty assessing the extent of his injuries.

“I was completely freaked out about my leg. I kept screaming for help. Nobody came. I kept scratching around trying to find my phone, there were only parts of my wheelchair,” he said as police tended to the bodies near him.

As officers began to retreat from the site out of fear of possible explosive devices in the truck, Sensky said his fears increased.

“I was even more scared because now I’m lying next to a truck and I can’t move that may have explosives in it,” he said.

Ultimately, he thanked first responders and hospital staff for saving his life by transporting him from Bourbon Street to University Medical Center for hours of surgery.

Even when he woke up after surgery, he said he had a hard time remembering exactly what happened that night.

“Honestly, like the whole time, I really didn’t know what the hell was going on. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know I had been hit by anything. I thought it was an explosion. I thought something exploded,” he said.

Despite his injuries, Sensky said he was “lucky” to have survived the attack and to be reunited with his family.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life, man,” he said. “I was paralyzed in a car accident. That was probably the worst part of my life and I’ve been in a wheelchair ever since. I hate to say it, but I feel happy right now. I’m alive and the people.” I was there and I’m still alive.

“At this moment, how optimistic are you for the future in this new year?” Johnson asked during their candid conversation at University Medical Center.

“I’m alive, man. I live. Everything is good,” Sensky said.