THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Mindset That Conquered Paralysis w/Chris Norton

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

When you’re 18, you’re in the prime of your life. Your best years are ahead of you. You’re filled with ENERGY and EXCITEMENT as you finally reach adulthood. Your prospects are bright and you feel like nothing can stop you now. But in a flash, your life can change forever. Chris Norton was a college freshman defensive back until he sustained a devastating injury while making a tackle during a game in 2010, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. After years of hard work, he DEFIED THE ODDS and regained limited mobility in some parts of his body. He didn’t know it at the time, but his life was about to change dramatically again. Chris captured hearts everywhere when he walked across the stage to accept his college diploma in 2015. The video from that day racked up more than 300 MILLION views. Three years later, People magazine created another viral moment when they filmed Chris’s walk of 7 yards down the aisle at his marriage. He used his notoriety to start the Chris Norton Foundation and has become a leading advocate in helping people with neuromuscular injuries and disabilities. His story was chronicled in the book The Seven Longest Yards and captured in the Netflix documentary 7 Yards. It was an honor for me to talk with Chris and tell share the story about a man who refused to give up and relied on his FAITH to overcome one of the most crushing challenges I can think of. Chris pulls no punches talking about how he was injured and how difficult those early days of his injury were. As he tried to HEAL both his body and mind, Chris reveals how people close to him, including his parents, nurse, and his wife Emily, helped him get through the tears and the daily demands he placed on himself. I was also struck by how SELFLESS Chris is because he made it his calling was to OVERCOME his pain and his struggles for a greater purpose by INSPIRING others to face their challenges as well. His story reminds us that have so much to be THANKFUL for in our lives, no matter what has happened in our past. If you’re down or feeling you can’t overcome the obstacles life has thrown at you, Chris’s story will help you find inspiration and RESILIENCE as you face your own challenges.   👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈  → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ▶︎ INSTAGRAM ▶︎ FACEBOOK  ▶︎ LINKEDIN ▶︎ TWITTER ▶︎ WEBSITE

This is the Ed Milach show. Welcome back to Max out everybody. I want you to imagine that you're a top athlete in the world and you know, you're able to run fast, jump high, tackle people, do whatever you want and within an instant you can't move. And not so long after that you're told you will never walk again. I want you to just process that chain of events in your mind if you possibly can. And then I want you to imagine me and told over and over again, you will never walk again and then proven people wrong.

And so I have a man on my show that I have tremendous admiration for. Today's gonna inspire you and you're gonna learn a lot about how to overcome real adversity in your life from a man who's featured right now in a Netflix documentary called Seven Yards that you have to see. Chris Norton, welcome to the program brother. Yeah, thank you. I had an honor to be here. It's, it's my honor. And here's what's crazy. I got to tell everybody,

I'm watching this documentary with my wife. We're both in tears and we're going to talk. You're going to hear and see a man today who was told he would never walk again who now does. And yet, when we were done watching the documentary, I said to myself, boy, that Emily's amazing, which is his wife. That was the first thing that occurred to me, was even as or more amazing was your wife Emily. So we're gonna talk about that. So let's take people back, brother. You're playing college football and you worked your tail off to get a chance to play on a team early that you're probably working to get a chance to play on. And then let's go right to the event that changed your life. What happened? Share with everybody. Yeah, absolutely. It's a

much frustrating year. I'm an 18 year old kid and big plans and dreams for myself and I ran to the field to kick off. To kick your huls is up. He calls and play. Mortar kick right, which is a simply like a short, high arching kick to the right side of the field. And I don't know why we didn't just go to kick right. Our kick was so bad.

Every two for short in high arching. But anyway, you know I'm pumped, you know, as a freshman, like I'm on the right side of the field. Like I'm gonna be on the action and me like, I love hitting people. I want to make a play. I want to earn my more playing time. So the balls kicked. I'm sprinting down field hard as I possibly can go and I see the opening for me.

They mind things are telling me he's gonna run through that gap and that young to stop him and drive my shoulder so hard legs and he's gonna run through that gap. And I'm gonna stop him and drive my shoulder so hard legs and he's gonna drop the ball. Until I hit him, full speed, full force, and just, this time my tackle just by a split second. And instead of getting my head in front of the ball here, my head hits his legs and in an instant, I lose all feeling and movement from my neck down.

I'm completely conscious. I felt like any other play, but I just came up. Someone just flipped the power off to my entire body. I'm just trying to push off the ground. The whistle calls a play dad. Everyone's off the field. There's waiting for me to get up. I'm just telling myself,

Chris and I get up, but little that I know, I had a spinal cord injury. And mom and dad are in the stands. So that's, I want you to picture that as a parent, everybody watching your son who's playing in college football, now not moving. Do you, you're laying there, Chris, are you going, all right, I got a stinger?

This is going to dissipate, or are you now feeling at some point where you're laying there? I are you going all right? I got a stinger. This is going to dissipate or you now feeling at some point where you're laying there. I'm in some big trouble. I'm just thinking it's a stinger. I'll go away. I'll get up off the field, walk off the sideline. I grew up in a small town in Iowa. I lived like kind of in a bubble.

Good things just, or bad things just never happened to me. You read about them in the newspaper, you watch on television, or maybe they're a guest on your show, but there's like, there's no way something bad is gonna happen to me. Like, I will be fine. Like, I just have this glass half full mentality, but as time was going on,

and they were doing more tests on me. Like, you know, asking me to make a fist with my hand, and I can't squeeze my hand at all. They're asking me, Chris, can you feel us touching your leg? I can't feel a thing. And they keep asking these questions. It's just, no, no, no.

And I'm getting more frustrated. And then they call in for a helicopter. And that's when I know, like, this is bad. Now, I've been to a ton of supporting events and usually you see a guy rolling around the field, making some sort of movement, but I'm just motionless. It's interesting, Chris.

I had Eric Lagrand on my show. I'm sure you probably know just because of the injury. You've got injured playing football at Rutgers. He's become a great friend of mine. And it strikes me with both you and him and watching your documentary that, and this is for everybody to know, God's not gonna give you any adversity

you're not capable of handling. And he chooses, I think, very carefully who he gives this adversity to because he knows if you can overcome it, that you're gonna inspire millions of other people to do something great, even small things in their life, start a business, you know, get married, get in shape. And in watching your family, your mom and your dad, particularly, things in their life, start a business, you know, get married, get in shape. And in watching your family, your mom and your dad,

particularly, and in some cases, really your dad, some of the conversations you had with him, and you are special, Chris, you didn't know it before that. And I bet, and in watching it, you were selected for this, even though, you know, in life it's hard to accept, everything happens for us and not to us, but in watching how you thought your mental toughness, the way you approached it, your dad's conversations with you, which we're going to get into in a minute and your moms, it just struck me that

this was some part of your destiny in the world, even though it wasn't a favorable thing at the time. So, do you agree with that, by the way, now in hindsight? Yeah, in hindsight, yeah, I totally agree with that, by the way, now in hindsight. Yeah, in hindsight, yeah, I totally agree with that. Like, you know, God had a bigger plan for me than the plan I had for myself. And I just didn't sleep at the time. And that was something you had to wrestle with.

Like God, like, what are you doing? Like are you sure you know, like, what's happening? You know, like, this is a mess. Like, how can you make this for your good and give me some sort of purpose and mean from this? And I don't wrestle with that, but, you know, that's faith. Like, it's not something you can see right away. You gotta, you just gotta trust.

And that was something I had to choose every single night. It was that faith or fear. And I just, it was a heart not always an easy choice, but I chose my perfect. You also chose to bust your ass to get back together too. And so we're gonna talk about that. So now you're in the hospital, series of events takes place.

And there's now this reckoning for you and your family that you are now told you're not gonna walk again. I wanna understand the first time that that was really said to you. Did you, was it like, oh really? Oh my gosh, I'm not going to walk again. Or was there an initial immediate resistance to that thought or did it take you a while to build up a lack of acceptance of the condition? Yeah, when I was first told that you have 3% chance of ever moving or feeling anything below the neck. Wow. Is that a 3% chance to walk? You you have 3% chance of ever moving or feeling anything below the neck. Wow.

And is that a 3% chance to walk? You've got 3% chance to move or feel to scratch the insides on your face to feed yourself. So 3% chance to feel something, not to walk. I just want to understand, 3% chance just to feel something. Walking was off the charts. That's not happening. Just to scratch yourself, 3% chance. Yeah, exactly. And you said a bunch of things after that,

but when I heard that, everything just stopped. And I just had this like ringing in my ears and it's just trying to come to grips with that number and what my life is gonna look like. But there was something in me like I was kind of numb at first to it. And then I got mad. And I'm just like no way, not me. Like this is not going to be my life. Like I can't accept this. Like I have to be, you know, that 3%. Like I'm like, he not be that 97% don't recover from this. And I had to be, you know, that 3%. I'm like, he not be that 97% don't recover from this. And I had to do everything in my power to kid my life back to get back to what I thought

would be, you know, the pit of me of living, which is walking. Like I thought that was everything in the beginning. You know, I now know now that, you know, happenings isn't measured by stabs. Right. You know. There's people looking to run, jump, and swim, or I'm happy. So, happiness is everything to do with your mindset and not your physical abilities. It would take me a long time to figure that out, but at first I'm like, I have to walk and I'll do whatever it takes. So that first day, the only movement I had was to nod my head, yes,

no. And I was just nod my head, yes, no, for hours. I was like a giant bubble head, just a thousand my head, fall around, but I was just ready to get to work. Oh my gosh. So guys, the reason you want to stay tuned to this is when you understand, first, we're going to go through the actual steps, no pun intended, that got Chris to go those seven yards to be there on his wedding day that you're going to hear about in a little bit. But I want to go through those steps of making a comeback is all of you need to know them. The other part of it is you're going to be blown away by what this man's life turned into and it's far beyond standing up and walking far beyond. What he's doing with his life is extraordinary. And as you can tell by the way,ator case is one of the top motivational speakers

in the world now as well. So you're laying there, they've told you this. And I wanna go through a couple remarkable circumstances. You're the most remarkable, but you know, you get a lot of caregivers in there, different nurses. But there was one very special conversation at a downtime for you.

And the reason I wanted everyone to hear this story is not only for the adversity side that Chris is going through, but how you might be this angel in someone else's life of inspiration or encouragement that this nurse was for him, because there's other extraordinary people that end up entering Chris's life that help him build this extraordinary life.

So maybe you're the Chris in the story where you're overcoming the adversity, but maybe you're this nurse. And so this is amazing. Share the beautiful gift of this woman with everybody. Yeah. So it's a fourth night in the ICU and going to bed was the worst. Like, you know, during the day, now I was pretty, you know, motivated. I was distracted with my rehab, with my family. But when you're laying your bed, staring at the ceiling, all your thoughts and your fears just pour out, you know, I'm just wandering, while I go to school, meet a woman that would be with me,

and be a dad and that sort of family. While I would be happy, and most times, I just cried myself to sleep, and I came to wipe the tears away from my eyes, and so I'm just laying there crying. It's like late in the morning, early morning, maybe two, four a.m. And this nurse comes in and check my vitals,

which is typical. Someone comes and checks my vitals. Every two hours, they check and they just leave. But this woman does something different. She comes over my bedside. She gets down on one knee and she says, Chris, look me in the eyes. And she was kind of mean about it, to be honest. So, you know, a lot guys with her, and she's a short slender woman, short, reddish hair glasses. And the thing about her, she's got this voice

that sounds like she came straight out of a Western movie and she says My name is Georgia. I'm from Wyoming. Do you know anyone from my own? I say no, but I'm just thinking like no, where is this going like kind of let me be and she says well People from my own. I don't tell eyes. I want you to know You will beat this. And I just broke down crying, right down the spot, like just the floodgates open. I just, I needed to hear those words so badly because up to this point, I was questioning, like, is my effort, is my hope,

and the time I'm putting into this, like, doesn't matter, like, will it pay off? You know, in my wasting my time, and, you know, with her words, it just restored my faith, and really just kind of gave me that confidence to go for it, and to not hold back. And that was so powerful. And she really showed me just how much impact one person can really make.

And yet anybody can be a Georgia, to choose to be kind. And instead of just saying, you can beat this or you can get better, you will beat this. You will get better and that's just how we're there. The way she set it up, man, with people from my own and don't lie, I want you to look at me. I think so many people need to hear that they can be that difference maker. If you understand at the end of this,

what this man's life turned into, I wonder if Georgia even has, will she probably just send the documentary to know what a miraculous moment and turning point that was in your life? And by the way, even when you have those turning points, guys, then there's other setbacks. You need another turning point.

That's part of life, you know, when you think now you're around the corner. And that just got blessed, what she did is everyone else came in and took your vitals. She decided to just go do one more, which ended up being a theme of your training. I'm writing a book, it's kind of the work of my life right now called

the life changing power of one more. Then in watching your story, that sort of became one of your mantras too, wasn't it, that in doing reps or in thoughts and things like that. So share that. You had these great conversations with your dad, where you had this bored up in your room, didn't you with like sayings on it. Would you just share them some of that? The one more your dad where they, you had this bored up in your room didn't you with like sayings on it. Would you just share them some of that? The one more your dad, sort of the environment

you set around yourself to make conditions possible for the change. Absolutely. So my room was completely decorated. They had all these inspirational quotes, Bible verses, and at nighttime was the most difficult time every single day, because again, back to that wrestling with these fears, at nighttime I'm trying to go sleep and my dad, that's when you would open up the laptop and start reading me scripture, you'd read me messages from people on this caring know, caring bridge site. And really just was there to just speak life into me. And they created this environment that was so encouraging and uplifting to me. And another thing too is like,

we check people out the door. Like if you're gonna come in and spew negativity in here, like we don't want you part of this environment because here like we believe, and we're gonna have that Faye man courage man, we're not gonna be told otherwise and that was really powerful for me because I look to my parents and I Watch them and I was counting on them for their strength and no little did I know too is When my dad and I we wrote a book together, The Power of Faye, and I didn't realize, but behind closed doors, they were struggling.

As you might imagine, like, they're really struggling with what I'm going through in their years, but they never showed it. That's the thing. Like, they just gave me so much confidence and belief in myself that we're going to figure this out. And it just reminded me just the importance of just being that role model for other people. I'm just exuding that strength and that confidence, just how influential that can be. And the fact, Chris, that you can give it to somebody often when maybe you are struggling yourself, I think everything's I got to have my act together. I got to completely feel a certain way before I can give other people the gift of belief, hope, love, and faith. And that's just simply not true. That's all over different scripture. The thing about that room

that you're in your hospital room is being the Haven. If you're going to come in here negative, don't come in. I think everybody's got to listen to that. What about the front door of your home? You know, are you your kids? Anybody walking through that front door, that home, bring a negativity into that space? You're work environment. Do you allow people to walk in there and spew negativity? Because a literal miracle's happened in this man's life in multiple ways. And I'm convinced you are the main, well, God's the main reason. You, mom and dad, Georgia, Emily, they're end up being come these people that change your life and how hard he worked. Talk about like when you were training brother, you would literally, he'd tell you to do

10, you'd do 11, wouldn't you? Like, whatever the standard was, you would do more in your rehab. And that really helped. Absolutely. I kept pushing it. I just knew like every day and like every little thing,, I could do just one more, just a little bit more than what's expected of me. That's when you can make the biggest difference.

And so that first couple of weeks, my body could only tolerate one hour therapy a day, but then eventually I got to three hours a day, but I cooked it for like three hours, it's not enough. So I asked the hospital for a fourth hour, and they say, no, and I cooked it last three hours is not enough. So I asked the hospital for 4 hours. And they say, no, and I asked, why not? They said, well, we're going to wow three hours. So eventually I do get that 4th hour though. And then again, you realize, no, 4 hours, no, no. I asked for a 5th hour. They say, no, again, and this time they meant it. I

actually never got that. But instead, you know, I had my therapist write up workouts that I can do on my own outside of my scheduled therapy time. So I thought I wasn't sleeping, you know, I was working. And when you work just as hard as you possibly can, good things will come. Something I really come to understand too is like your future will take care of itself when you take care of today. And I just leave them that and I just kept working. Your future will take care of itself when you take care of today. That's a powerful brother.

See, so I'm curious, just go back because the story is about to get bananas, okay? Just bananas. And you're going to see all the blessings. But I still want wanna go back. You're, it's hard for people to hear a story like this. I try to really put myself in it. So a week before, you're planning on what you're gonna do after the football game.

How much weight you wanna put on, what your 40 time is, all these other things, it's a dramatic life event. So even with dad being positive, even with the positive environment, even with Georgia, what did you do in those private moments? Because at some point, it became you and you in those moments at night. One, did the negative thoughts creep in very regularly and even for an extended period of time? And is there anything specifically you would do? Would you pray? Would you, you know, feed positive thoughts? And what would you do when it really got, did it really get negative?

And what did you do? Yeah, it did absolutely get negative. And I cried a lot. Like I really had to just let it out. And just feel it instead of just bearing it. I think that's also sometimes, which is a man that kind of want to cry, like, I want to be tough through this. And it's okay to just feel what you feel like a lot of it out. So I think that was really helpful for me. It's just

letting it out. And then something that really, I just kept waiting for sunrise too. Like, that was my opportunity. Like, I just wanted my chance to do something about the situation. And really, I think my mindset really, I see got planted from my dad a long time ago when I was a kid. And I can remember I had this weekend basketball tournament. The worst week in a basketball in my life, and I'm on my way home. I'm like, fighting back the tears. And to make my nose worse, I'm riding home with my coach. It was my dad, and he's giving me the layers and the rear of your mirror. He knew I had so much more in me and potential

than I was living up to. And so I get home, I kick my shoes off, I go to the couch. I'm watching TV, like I'm playing video games. I'm trying to distract myself from my frustrations of knowing I could be better. And then eventually my dad comes out to me and he's like, Chris, if you don't like what you're at, then do something about it. And I don't know what it was, but those words just, it just clicked. It's like, wow, like you want better results, and you just have to get better. Like, what am I doing sitting on this couch, complaining,

and blaming, and having all these excuses when I could be going out there and getting better? I can go shoot more, I can do more balling. I can work harder than what I'm doing, and so, I feel sorry for myself. Like, I just felt so stupid in that moment. I was just like, what am I doing? And really, what my dad taught me was to be radically

responsible for your life. And that means all outcomes are good in the bad. And the more responsibility you accept, the better you're going to respond to adversity. And so when that time came when my injury happened, I already had this belief that it's on my hands, my future success, my happiness, I have to do something about it. I have to make things happen. And so I just felt this responsibility, but it was empowered. It wasn't like a burden, it was like empowering of like

there are things that I can do. Like I plan to do one more rep. I can add more time to my therapy and I'm going to do it. And let's see what happens. Radically responsible for your life, brother. I knew we would have a good show, but come on man, this is like this is so awesome. So there's blessings that happen in every adversity. I'm convinced that basketball game happened in some small way to prepare you for the injury. But now you're in rehab. Tell me, let's just get to the good stuff. This is crazy.

How'd you meet your wife? Tell me how you met your wife. We met online and did a good swipe, I guess, and just started conversing with her. And Emily, she's not a surface level person at all. She figured out real quick that, of my situation, my injury, and she's already asking me within the second day of,

what was your mind like in your attitude? Like, right when you found out the news and how did you get through those nights? The really the same question. It's like you're asking me, but like someone I just met who most people were afraid to ask those questions early on when they're just getting to know me. And there are a lot of times

those are just surface level conversations, but not Emily. If I was instantly connected to her, I found a public spot to meet. And I can remember just being so freaked out about meeting up with her. And I'll never forget her walking across the street. And my job dropped. I'm like trying to pick it back up. Like I cannot believe how beautiful she was. And I'm just like trying to like tell myself like Chris, I think you've been here

before like you could together like she was way out of my league. And you know Emily just came up to me and just had a conversation on me. She wanted to get to know me for who I was and not you know my disability, my injuries, she wasn't consumed by the things that I was unable to do. I didn't scare her. And I just knew right there she was a special person. And then learning more about her heart for kids in the foster care system and just her love to make a difference too to and so we just connected right away.

It was two extraordinary people meeting and the amount of, you know, anytime you accomplish what Chris has accomplished, someone like Emily around you, the amount of care just caring for somebody during the process of overcoming an injury like this, all the rehab, all the little things that need to be done that this woman began to do. And one of the lessons that I learned long ago is the more you care for something, the more you love it. And so ironically, the injury and your way of meeting her allowed her to care for you

and serve you in ways and vice versa that help this love grow into such an extraordinary thing. And I don't know that enough people understand that the more you serve something, the more you care for it, the more you love it. And this incredible love grew. And then something even better happened, which is now Chris's reason to want to stand in walk, has become even more enormous. And I'm a big believer that you can do more and more extraordinary things, the bigger the reason. I think we do everything in life for our dreams and other people and willing to do something. So it became important to you that on your wedding day that you were able to

walk back down the aisle afterwards. When did that start to occur to you and then take everybody through what took place here. So they know through all of the adversity, all of the other stuff that took place between graduation and the wedding. I'm sure those days were like projecting forward in your mind over and over and over again as inspiration to keep grinding through therapy. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, my first big goal was to walk across the stage on my college graduation. A big part of that goal was really focused on myself. Like, how can I get my body to a spot where I can walk maybe even independently across the stage and even in the process, inspire other people to go for their

goals and dreams. And so Emily comes alongside me. She really pushes me. She's my toughest trainer by far. And so we do this four yard walk across the graduation stage and it blows up, like goes by over 300 million people, see this video. And we're getting messages from so thousands of people. I just how inspired they were by this short little walk. And at this point, I begin to realize, you know what?

Again, like, you know, happiness isn't measured by steps. Like, I don't need to walk to live a good life. Like, I can be happy content right from the wheelchair. But then this kind of gave me that reason you talked about. Like, when your reason's bigger and you serve others, it drives you more. And so seeing that if I can inspire other people through walking and through overcoming my challenges,

like I have to do that. Like I have to pursue that on my heart. So that's where the seven yard wedding walk became to be because I didn't want to walk on my wedding day, like for myself, either did Emily, like that's a lot of pressure. Like I've been put, you know, 46 hours a day training for this walk. And so putting that much pressure on your wedding day was not something I wanted. But you know what, there's a big reason. Like I felt called to use my pain for a purpose

and to use this visual of my struggles to help somebody who's struggling right now who needs that hope to just keep going, even if they don't know where they're going. And so we kept training to walk the seven yards and actually it's ironic is's the documentary film team approached us you know almost a year more than a year before the wedding and I said this goal of seven yards and they named movie seven yards and I couldn't even walk seven yards at the time.

Whoa whoa why did not know that? Yes so I could even take a step because here's the thing that was different. Emily was in front of me for the graduation line. It's how I'm used to walking, is leaning on somebody. Yeah. But now with the wedding, we want to do it side by side.

Yes. We lose that support. And so when we first tried to practice it, I couldn't even take a step. I was so frustrated and mad. I'm like, what am I doing? Like, oh gosh, but I folded it together and was like, okay, we have to make it work.

We have to figure it out. Bro, I had no idea. So they named the Doc Seven Yards and you couldn't even do it yet, that's bananas. Like, you guys, I've had a lot of emotional moments in my life when Chris stood up and walked at the graduation, I uncontrollably cried. And I think you will as well.

I uncontrollably cried because of all the work, because of your mom and dad, because of the injury. And this is what's extraordinary in life. We have no idea. It might be in a coffee shop somewhere where your story, what you overcome inspires one person. But here's this dude from Iowa playing, you know, a small college football gets his tremendous injury. 300 million flipping people get

inspired by it. And that's before the Netflix documentary. It's crazy. And who to thought, man, when you were laying in that bed, doing one more, feeding those messages, going to rehab, quiet. There's nobody filming everything, man. He's just getting up every day, being a human, trying to grow and get better, that it would lead to this. Now you're on my show after this show, the whole damn world's going to want you on every podcast. So it's just extraordinary what you've done. And then the wedding one, you know, spoiler alert, it works out. And I was thinking, it's funny. You say that, Chris, I'm thinking, man, it's my wedding day. I kind of like to kick back and enjoy this thing a little bit. And the whole dang time

into the back of your mind, you have to be going, all right, in a minute here, I got to pull this seven yard thing off. Was it on your mind through the whole service? Or could you actually enjoy it? Yeah, actually, in the other thing too, it had been more pressure of people magazine. It was like, we're going to be there to cover it. Yeah actually in the other thing too, the add the more pressure of people magazine was like we're going to be there to cover it. I never really want to have a story. So I had those two things, but here's the thing actually.

I got to the point where my faith really began to grow and I just had this trust. You know what? God's God's. I put in the work work I've done my part and what's like God's plans really unveil itself because we'll just see what happens. But because I also knew I'm going to marry the girl. I get Emily. So no matter what happens if the walk was a complete flop, I'd trip and fall. Like so be it. I'm with this incredible human being that I get to spend the rest of my life with like I already want like I already

Did it like no means I like that was already a big deal to me and of course, you know It worked out beautifully. I gotta say to everybody I wish everyone would share this show and maybe go back and listen to the last little part He's literally unpacking for you the mindset of success of gratitude of I wish everyone would share this show and maybe go back and listen to the last little part. He's literally unpacking for you the mindset of success, of gratitude, of, you know, faith. It's a remarkable brother. Let's talk a little bit more about your faith. This one I want to ask you about that because I was a centerpiece while you're in the hospital,

centerpiece throughout your life, centerpiece now, centerpiece for Emily. Was your faith this strong prior to the injury? Were you already a pretty strong guy of faith and if you were, has it increased tremendously since the injury? I was not a strong person of faith. Well, you know, thankful that my parents, they drive me to church on Sundays, had it on and down on the sleeping. But they told me about God. I did the Sunday school. I did the FCA in the fellowship of Christian athletes at my school.

And while I did those things, it wasn't like something I was living out. I only prayed when I really needed something. Like I felt like I couldn't do it on my own. And that's kind of my mentality. My first 18 years of life was like, I can figure it out. Like I can do it on my own, radical responsibility, right?

But then I got in the situation where the uncertainty was overwhelming. And everything looked so bleak and not good. People were already writing me off that I'm gonna be like this the rest of my life with no movement below my neck. And so thankfully, I reverted to God and remember the verses and the readings and the sermons of Mahoo God and how he can take these broken pieces and turn it into something good and use his pain for a purpose and the mess for a message.

And I just believe in that. And so my faith just grew exponentially from that injury because I felt like it was the only thing I could really almost rely on and hold me up and gave me that light at the end of the tunnel. So that's why my faith became so important in that time. Fine, when you talk, brother, I have to lean back in my chair because I'm leaning in so darn much that, like, catch your words. I'm thinking of unpacking lots of things here, but just like,

to make the comeback, to be happy, I'm thinking of all the stuff we've already covered. We've talked about the grind of the training. We've talked about the no negativity zone. We've talked about the grind of the training. We've talked about the no negativity zone. We've talked about having the angels come in. We've talked about having the big reasons. We've talked about faith. There's just this combination of things that make life extraordinary. But when you hear this feel good story, because when you're about to hear my favorite part

of the story in a minute, which is what Chris and Emily have done with their lives, but before we get there, I want just, I want reality. So he has this incident, he overcomes it, he's grinding, he's got this amazing angel, but in you chasing your dream everybody, it doesn't end up, and he walked down the aisle and he walked a graduation and 300 million people in between there, there are devastating days

in chasing a dream in life. And I think sometimes you think, oh, devastating means it's not my calling, it's not my purpose. I'm not supposed to be there. Actually devastating days probably means you're pursuing something extraordinary. And that's the adversary trying to get after you. And I don't mean to be super negative about this one particular doctor, but I feel like he was almost the adversary showing up in your life in human form. And so when you take him through that day where you're like, Hey, I think my legs moving or I feel something in my leg, you had a day where you and the family

got all excited. And by the way, this hater, this dream stealer, this doctor comes from an authority position too. So oftentimes we have a hater or someone stealing our dream. If it's some Yahoo, you're like, Oh, whatever, but when it's someone you admire or look up to or isn't a 30 figure, that can be devastating. And you had one of those instances where I, when you tell this story, man, I want to go grab this doctor and just shake him, right? Because this was borderline tragic. So take them through what happened and then what your response was for real. So take them through what happened and then what your response was for real. Yeah, so it was at this point in my recovery is five weeks. I'm still in the hospital.

Now at this point, I can move my arms just a little bit. I have a little bit of sensation throughout my body, but no movement in my legs. And you know how important that was to me to move something in my legs to walk again. Well, I wake up to this new sensation in my left big toe. So I felt like my body was wrapped in this like invisible cast. And now all of a sudden I can feel the air stronger on my left big toe. Like blankets flipped off the end of the blanket.

When you're sleeping, you feel like that cold air in your toes. I can feel on my left big toe. Some specials happen. It feels like progress and something's happening. So my dad works out about it. The neurologist comes in the doctor and I'm explaining this to him. And I can just tell right away if just from his bio-language, he could care less. And then I ask him, well, he'd take my shoe,

sock off, and just examine this left big toe and he refuses. He says, no, Chris, you're experiencing a phantom feeling where you want to believe that you can feel something differently in this left big toe so badly, who tricked yourself and thinking it's real. And that, you know, these stand-up feelings can happen to a lot of people with spinal cord injuries. You know, I knew of what that this phantom feeling, something special was happening. And then the last thing he says, Chris, you'll never move anything in your legs ever again. And just trying to walk out like, it's no big deal.

And I was devastated. Like I was so crushed and my dad, he's my rock. Like he's like the strongest dude I know. You're dead, man. I've never seen him cry in my life. And I see him cry for the first time. And he tells me Chris, you can't let anyone tell you

what you can or can't do. And I just knew he was right. And so, and I also see our Georgia's words too. Like you will beat this and so I'm listening to those voices in this wave of motivation, just like sweeps over me and I'm just like, you know what, I'm gonna prove this doctor long. And so I just get to work and I use it for field to that fire

and then not even a week later, on Thanksgiving morning of all morning with my family, I wiggle that exact left big toe, that doctor's gonna move again. Yeah, I was, how, how far do I tell all the nurses and therapists, you know, you go find that doctor who I like to refer to as Dr. Phantom, and you bring him in here,

you're telling the Phantom this. I wiggle my toe and his face. I had a lot of things I wanted to say, but I was definitely too fired up, but it was such a special moment for me and my family. What you did spoke so much louder than anything you would have said, but guys, when you're chasing your dream, someone's going to come along and go, you're feeling phantom excitement. You're not making progress.

You're never going to make progress. You should just get real. I mean, brother, your whole story is a damn blueprint of how to overcome something and win. And every element of it, not to the same extent, those of you that are trying to build a business or get in shape, it's not the same as trying to wiggle a toe, right? But it's the same principle. These dream Steelers are going to come along and some of them come from really incredible positions and it can be devastating. And I wanted that to be towards this part of the story after you already knew he didn't just wiggle the toe. Sky did walk a graduation, he did walk the seven yards,

he did marry his dream girl, and then the great stuff. They're an amazing family. So I'm convinced if you don't have this injury, I don't think you marry Emily. I don't think the love grows that way. You agree with that, by the way? 100% I would not have met Emily. So no, Emily, the faith wouldn't have been the same.

The relationship with mom and dad would have been the same. The self-esteem would have been the same. And I guarantee you you wouldn't be the kind of father that you are. So I want you to tell him, but describe the family you and Emily have built together. Because I think people are about to just cry their eyeballs out at what you and Emily do as a couple in the lives of children is amazed balls. So let's share with them. Well, at this point, we have seven children.

I have adopted girls, and we also are co-parenting a seven-year-old and then fostering a two-year-old. We have fostered a total of 18 children, and our age spreads are all this girl that we adopted with. She's 22 years old, so she's only six and seven years younger, and Emily and I, and then we adopted that sitting group of four girls who are now 11, 10, 7, 5. Amazing family, you guys,

you understand the difference that these two extraordinary souls have made in people's lives. I just, I think you're two of the most remarkable people I've ever heard about, bro. And ironically, everybody, you know, Chris was introduced to me a couple of years ago, we've been talking often on and I,

we're trying to find the time to do this. I'm so grateful we did it now that all this has been documented so that people can see it. But they're an amazing family. I would challenge you all to follow their journey. This Emily, his wife is an extraordinary woman. And I believe that God sent you this extraordinary woman because you developed into such an extraordinary man. And I don't think you would have had the gift or the opportunity to develop these amazing parts of you had you not had this incident take place. So I'm curious, here's an interesting question.

Would you change things now? I wouldn't. I seriously would not go back and change that play. I just, it's open the doors to blessings that would have never happened at the warmth of the injury. Like meeting Emily, I also started the Chris and Orton Foundation. We have a wheelchair camp for kids and families that's completely free. We have, you know, we don't

make equipment for people in their recovery goals. And then, you know, the motivational speaking, you have the books, the documentary, just the opportunities to inspire people, my family, like, just none of it would have happened. It would have worked for the injuries. So how could I ever go back and try to change that play? It's just impossible. There's something else, Chris, that we haven't covered that you would want to impart on

to somebody who's listening, going, you know, I haven't had the extent of the setback that you had originally, but I'm really not where I wanna be. Metaphorically, I'm kinda laying on the field of life right now, not moving a lot, you know? Or I'm, don't feel like I'm making progress anyway. What would you share with them that we haven't covered? I mean, I've got this amazing human on my show.

I wanna make sure I've given you a chance to share, express and share any other thought you might have that could change their life or give them something to think about. What else would you add? You know, I think a big part of just my daily ritual and my wellness that I have to do all the time is I have to really focus on my abilities

and not my disabilities. And you know, what I can do, not what I can, you know, if you can imagine as a quadriplegic, I have a laundry list of things I can't do. And every single day, I'm reminded of that. Like every single time I wake up, I need somebody to get me out of bed to out with me with my clothes and go to the bathroom.

And there's a lot of things I can't do. But despite all of that, there are things I can't do. That's where my power, your power, everyone's powers are on those abilities and those possibilities. I really try to feed my mind, my soul, with all the things that I'm able to do. And I try to cut out blaming and complaining because one of the most people, thanks, that I have to deal with, is just as a dad to my dad, he was a very playful, active father. I'm really thankful that I have someone like him

and I've always wanted to be like him, like teaching my kids how to throw baseball and throw him around the pool and teach them, you know, throw the football and basketball. No, this goes on and on. But those are things I can't do. And those are times where I struggle with that. But I pull myself out of that by reminding myself of the things that I can be, what's more important is being a dad that's present, that's loving, encouraging, making them feel special. Like, those are things that I can't do.

And so I'm not gonna allow the things that I can't do to paralyze me from the things that I can do. Interesting, you use the word paralyze you from the things you can't do. It's an interesting word choice there, brother. Curious. I hear extraordinary, man. You know, there are shows that I do that I'm very enthralled with. And then there are ones where I almost get lost in processing what you say. And you have that ability. I really process the things that you say.

I just wonder if we have the real here too. You have bad days still, like really bad days, or is this something like you just turn to page live and you don't have it many more because you're Mr. Grateful and you focus on the things you're good in that and not the things you're not good at. Or do you have days that are just like,

hey, man, that's a bad one. That's a dark day for me. Do you still have those? I wouldn't say days, I wouldn't say moments. That's what I try to keep them. I short-lived as possible and do the things I know that are important to me and my mindset. So again, it goes back to pointing out the things that I am getting

that I do have the progress that I've been making. I'm just always trying to like fill myself up with those things to try to turn that corner and to kind of stop that stinking thinking because it happens. I mean, we're all human and you just kind of make those those tough choices of feeling yourself up with that perspective of gratitude and what you do have and that's what I really try to do every single day. I appreciate your honesty, bro, and I have such admiration for you as a man for the work you put in to get where you are in your life. And for the message you share, there's an honesty about the way you share things that makes such an impact.

And I think another lesson from Chris, everybody is he's himself. Chris isn't trying to be anybody else in the world. It's funny, it's interesting to me that I sense Chris, you're very comfortable with who you are. And I think that's one of the other gifts of gratitude. It's one of the other gifts of getting so much time to work on yourself. Is that a fair read? Like I think you're kind of comfortable with you? Absolutely. I think that's a big thing for anybody. It's just to be able to that's a big thing for anybody. It's just to be able to love yourself before you can really love somebody else too. Like to properly love them. It's going to be really hard to cherish a relationship when you even cherish yourself. And so I know that

children have gotten, he loves me, I'm called to do something. And so I just try to have that self-confidence about myself, I'm also a humility. But yeah, I think it does come from a place of just accepting where I'm at. And that was a process too though. Like, I can remember when I had my parents made me get an accessible vehicle. I didn't want an accessible vehicle. Like, I felt how things just are so insecure with who I am. I can remember they were going to drop me off at a friend's and a graduation party. I told them to park in the back because I didn't want anybody to see an accessible vehicle.

Like, I just felt so I had stuck out. I still stick out. People just automatically now assume that I'm miserable because of the wheelchair. It's not the case, but like we just stand out more and at first I hated that. And then I just kind of turned a corner where I just you know accepted myself or who I was. And I realized that the most valuable thing about a person is just how they serve and love others. And that's why other people really care about anyway. And that's why I had to figure that out for myself. I love you. I love you. That's an absolute gem that is all people care about.

You know, I learned that working at the McKinley, the group home, everybody just wants to be loved, cared for and believed in. And however you do that, they'll accept you as you are if you give them that gift of who you are. So, brother, I've enjoyed that I so much. Now listen, everybody. Number one, follow Chris on Instagram. You can book him as a speaker. You can go to his website. What's your website, brother? Chris, norin.org. Well, that's going to be really hard to find. ChrisNorton.org, I'm kidding. Go there, engage with him. I recommend you follow him on. I'm scared so you can follow the journey

of his amazing family. And what's remarkable about you is Seven Yards is one of the most amazing documentaries you'll ever see. And yet Seven Yards has almost nothing to do with how extraordinary this man is. He's gone much further than those Seven Yards. And you can go much further than your initial dreams as well. And it's okay that you have this big

dream. And it's okay that you got that doctor in your life who you want to prove something wrong for as well. So Chris, thank you so much for being here today. Brother, God bless you. And please send my love to Emily and your mom and dad and all the kids as well. Thank you, God bless, appreciate you. All right, share this with everyone, guys, max out. [♪ Music playing, singing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background, playing in the background