Mindset That Conquered Paralysis w/Chris Norton

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

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• 0:45Ed Mylett?

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• 1:01Speaker 01

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  This is the Ed Mylett Show.

• 1:48Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I want you to imagine that you're a top athlete in the world, and 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 being told over and over again, you will never walk again. And then proving people wrong. And so I have a man on my show that I have tremendous admiration for. Today's going to inspire you and you're going to learn a lot about how to overcome real adversity in your life.

• 2:34Ed Mylett?

  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.

• 2:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, thank you, Ed. It's an honor to be here.

• 2:45Ed Mylett?

  It's, uh, it's my honor. And here's what's crazy. I gotta tell everybody. I'm watching this documentary with my wife. We're both in tears and we're gonna talk, you're gonna 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 probably weren't going 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.

• 3:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, absolutely. It's a my freshman year, I'm an 18 year old kid and uh, big plans and dreams for myself. And I run out to the field and the kickoff, uh, the kicker huddles us up, he calls the play, mortar kick right, uh, 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 like kick right. Our kicker was so bad. Every two was short in high arching. Uh, 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. Uh, me, like, I love hitting people. Like, I, I wanna make a play. I wanna earn my more playing time. And so the ball's kicked, I'm sprinting downfield hard as I possibly can go. And I see the opening for me. And my instincts are telling me he's gonna run through that gap.

• 4:14Speaker 04

  And, you know, I'm gonna stop him, drive my shoulder so hard legs and he's gonna drop the ball. And so I hit him full speed, full force and just. Missed time, my tackle, just by a split second. Instead of getting my head in front of the ball carrier, my head hits his legs. And in an instant, I lose all feeling and movement from my neck down. I'm completely conscious. It felt like any other play, but I just can't move. Like, someone just flipped the power off to my entire body. And, you know, I'm just trying to push off the ground. The whistle calls a play dead. Everyone's off the field, they're just waiting for me to get up. And I'm just telling myself, like, Chris, you gotta get up.

• 4:58Speaker 04

  But little did I know, I had a spinal cord injury.

• 5:01Ed Mylett?

  Hmm, 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 college football now not moving. Do you, you're laying there, Chris, are you going, all right, I got a stinger. This is gonna dissipate. Or are you now feeling at some point where you're laying there, I'm in some big trouble?

• 5:20Speaker 04

  I'm just thinking, it's a stinger. It'll, it'll go away. I'll get up off the field, walk off the sideline. You know, I grew up in a small town in Iowa. I lived like kind of in a bubble, like, you know, good things, just, or bad things just never happened to me. Like, you read about it 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, you know, glass half full mentality. But, you know, 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. And they're asking me, Chris, can you feel us touching your leg? I can't feel a thing. And they keep asking these questions.

• 6:05Speaker 04

  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 sporting events, and usually you see a guy like rolling around the field, making some sort of movement. But I'm just motionless.

• 6:25Ed Mylett?

  It's interesting, Chris. I had Eric Legrand on my show. I'm sure you probably know just because of the injury. He 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 going to 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 going to 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, and in some cases, really your dad, some of the conversations you had with him, and you are special, Chris.

• 7:05Ed Mylett?

  You didn't know it before then, 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 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 mom's, 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?

• 7:36Speaker 04

  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 see that at the time. And that was something I had to wrestle with. Like, God, like, what are you doing? Like, are you sure you know, like, what's happening here? Like, this is a mess. Like, how can you make this for your good and give me some sort of purpose and meaning from this? And I had to wrestle with that. But, you know, that's faith. Like, it's not something you can see right away. You just got to trust. And that was something I had to choose every single night was that faith or fear. And I just, it was hard, not always an easy choice, but I chose my faith.

• 8:19Ed Mylett?

  You also chose to bust your ass to get back together, too. And so we're going to talk about that. So now you're in the hospital, a series of events takes place, and there's now this reckoning for you and your family that you are now told you're not going to walk again. I want to understand the first time that that was really said to 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?

• 8:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, when I was first told like, you know, you have 3% chance of ever moving or feeling anything below the neck. It's not a 3% chance to walk. It's a 3% chance to move or feel, to, you know, scratch an itch on your face, to feed yourself.

• 9:07Ed Mylett?

  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?

• 9:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, exactly. And wow, you said a bunch of things after that, but like, when I heard that, like, everything just stopped. And I just had these like ringing in my ears and it's just, I'm just trying to come to grips with that number and what my life is gonna look like. And, um, 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 gonna be my life. Like, I can't accept this. Like, I have to be, you know, that 3%. Like, I cannot be that 97% don't recover from this.

• 9:59Speaker 04

  And I had to do everything in my power to get my life back, to get back to what I thought would be, you know, the epitome of living, which is walking. Like, I thought that was everything in the beginning. You know, I now know now that, you know, happiness isn't measured by steps.

• 10:16Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 10:16Speaker 04

  You know, there's people who can run, jump and swim who are happy. So, you know, happiness has everything to do with your mindset and not your physical abilities. It would take me a long time to figure that out, but, you know, at first I'm like, I have to walk and I'll do whatever it takes. And so that first day, like, the only movement I had was to nod my head yes and no. And I would just nod my head yes and no for hours. I was like a giant bobblehead, just like bouncing my head all around, but I was just ready to get to work.

• 10:47Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh. So guys, the reason you want to stay tuned to this is when you understand, first, we're gonna 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 gonna hear about in a little bit. But I want to go through those steps of making a comeback, because 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's 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 he communicates, he's one of the top motivational speakers in the world now as well. So you're laying there, they've told you this. And I want to go through a couple remarkable circumstances. You're the most remarkable, but you know, you had a lot of caregivers in there, different nurses.

• 11:30Ed Mylett?

  But there was one very special conversation at a downtime for you. And the reason I want 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. Cause 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, share the beautiful gift of this woman with everybody.

• 12:01Speaker 04

  Yeah, so it's a fourth night in the ICU and going to bed was the worst. Like, you know, during the day, you know, 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 wondering, will I ever go to school, meet a woman that would be with me and be a dad and sort of family? Will I ever be happy? And you know, most nights I just cry myself to sleep and I can't even wipe the tears away from my eyes. And so I'm just laying there crying. It's like, you know, late in the morning, early morning, maybe two, four AM. And this nurse comes in to check my vitals, which is typical.

• 12:46Speaker 04

  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. And so, you know, a lot of guys were there and she's a short, slender woman, short reddish hair, glasses. And the thing about her is she's got this voice that sounds like she came straight out of a Western movie. And she says, um, my name is Georgia. I'm from Wyoming. Do you know anyone from Wyoming? And I say, no, and I'm just thinking like, no, where is this going? Like, kind of let me be. And she says, well,

• 13:31Speaker 04

  People from Wyoming don't tell lies. And I want you to know, you will beat this.

• 13:39Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 13:40Speaker 04

  You will beat this.

• 13:43Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 13:43Speaker 04

  And I just broke down crying right there on the spot, like just the floodgates open. I just, I needed to hear those words so badly because, you know, up to this point, you know, 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, am I wasting my time? And, you know, with her words, it just restored my faith. And really just kind of gave me that confidence to, to go for it and to not hold back. And that was so powerful. And, and she really showed me just how much impact, you know, one person can really make.

• 14:26Speaker 04

  And yet anybody can be a Georgia, like to choose to be kind. And instead of just saying, um, you can beat this or you can get better. It's you will beat this, you, you will get better. And that's, there's some power there.

• 14:43Ed Mylett?

  The way she set it up, man, with, with the people from Wyoming, 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, well, she probably does in the documentary to know what a, 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, you think now you're around the corner. And just God bless her. 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. It blew my mind. I'm writing a book, it's kind of the work of my life right now called The Life Changing Power of One More. And then in watching your story, that sort of became one of your mantras too, wasn't it?

• 15:27Ed Mylett?

  That in doing reps or in thoughts and things like that. So share that. You had these great conversations with your dad where they, you had this board up in your room, didn't you? With like sayings on it. Would you just share with them some of that, the one more, your dad, sort of the, the environment you set around yourself to make conditions possible for the change?

• 15:46Speaker 04

  Absolutely. So my room was completely decorated. Um, they had all these inspirational quotes, Bible verses. And at nighttime was the most difficult time every single day. Because again, you know, back to that, you know, wrestling with these fears. At nighttime, I'm trying to go to sleep and my dad, that's when he would open up the laptop and start reading me scripture. Uh, he would read me messages from people on this, you know, Carrying 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 at the door.

• 16:29Speaker 04

  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 faith, that encouragement. And we're not gonna be told otherwise. And that was really powerful for me because I looked to my parents and I watched them. And I was counting on them for their strength. And no little did I know too is, um, when my dad and I, we wrote a book together, uh, The Power of Faith. 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 and their fears. But they never showed it. That's the thing.

• 17:10Speaker 04

  Like, they just gave me so much confidence and belief in myself that we're gonna figure this out. And it just reminded me just the importance of just being that role model for other people. Of just exuding that strength and that confidence, just how, you know, influential that can be.

• 17:27Ed Mylett?

  And the fact, Chris, that you can give it to somebody often when maybe you are struggling yourself. I think everybody thinks, I gotta have my act together. I gotta 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, and this being the haven. If you're gonna come in here negative, don't come in. I think everybody's gotta listen to that. What about the door, the front door of your home?

• 17:53Ed Mylett?

  You know, are you, your kids, anybody walking through that front door of that home bringing negativity into that space? Your work environment, do you allow people to walk in there and spew negativity? Because a literal miracles happen in this man's life in multiple ways. And I'm convinced you are the main rea- well, God's the main reason. You, mom and dad, Georgia, Emily, there end up being come these people that change your life. And, and, and how hard he worked. Talk about like when you were training, brother, you would literally, he'd tell you do 10, you'd do 11, wouldn't you? Like you, whatever the standard was, you would do more in your rehab and you, and that really helped.

• 18:30Speaker 04

  Absolutely. I kept pushing it like, I just knew like every day and like every little thing, like if you just one more, just a little bit more than what's expected of me, like that's when I knew you can make the biggest difference. And so that first couple of weeks, I could only, my body could only tolerate one hour of therapy a day. But then eventually I got to three hours a day, but I quickly realized three hours is not enough. So I asked the hospital for a fourth hour and they say, no. And I asked, well, why not? They said, well, we've only allowed three hours. So eventually I do get that fourth hour though. But then again, you realize, no, four hours is not enough. I asked for a fifth hour, they say, no, again. And this time they meant it. I actually never got that fifth hour.

• 19:15Speaker 04

  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 if I wasn't sleeping, you know, I was working and when you can work just as hard as you possibly can, when 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 believed in that and I just kept working.

• 19:42Ed Mylett?

  Your future will take care of itself when you take care of today. That's powerful, brother. See, so I'm curious, just go back, cause this story is about to get bananas. Okay. Just bananas. And you're gonna see all the blessings and, but I still want to go back. You're, it's hard for people when they hear a story like this. I try to really put myself in it. So a week before, you're planning on what you're going to do after the football game. How much weight you want to put on, what your 40 time is, you know, 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?

• 20:24Ed Mylett?

  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?

• 20:43Speaker 04

  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, especially as a man, I don't want to cry. Like, I want to be tough through this. And it's okay to just feel what you feel like, let it out. So I think that was really helpful for me is 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, the seed got planted from my dad a long time ago when I was a kid. And I can remember, I had this weekend basketball tournament.

• 21:27Speaker 04

  I had the worst weekend of basketball of my life. And I'm on my way home, I'm like fighting back the tears. And to make matters worse, I'm riding home with my coach, who was my dad. And he's, you know, he's giving me these glares in the rearview mirror. He knew I had so much more in me, the 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 up to me and he's like, Chris, if you don't like where 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, do you want better results?

• 22:13Speaker 04

  Then 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. Like, I can go shoot more, I can do more ball handling. I can work harder than what I'm doing. And so why feel sorry for myself? Like, it just, 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 and the bad. And the more responsibility you accept, the better you're going to respond to adversity.

• 22:54Speaker 04

  And so when that time came, when, you know, my injury happened, I already had this belief that like, it's on my hands, like my future success, my happiness. Like, I have to do something about it. Like, 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 can 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.

• 23:28Ed Mylett?

  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's basketball game happened in some small way to prepare you for the, uh, the injury. Um, but now you're in rehab. Tell them how, so let's just get to the good stuff. This is crazy. How'd you meet your wife? Tell them how you met your wife.

• 23:53Speaker 04

  We met online and, uh,

• 23:56Speaker 04

  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 like the second day of like, what was your mind like and your attitude like right when you found out the news and how'd you get through those nights? Really the same questions like you're asking me, but like someone I just met who, you know, 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. And so I was instantly connected to her. I found a, you know, public spot to

• 24:40Speaker 04

  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 jaw dropped. I'm like trying to like pick it back up. Like I could not believe how beautiful she was. And I'm just like trying to like tell myself like, Chris, act like you've been here before. Like you get together. Like she was way out of my league. And, you know, Emily just came up to me and just had a conversation with me. She wanted to get to know me for who I was and not, you know, my disability, my injury. She wasn't consumed by the things that I was unable to do. And

• 25:23Speaker 04

  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. And so we just connected right away.

• 25:39Ed Mylett?

  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 helped 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 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

• 26:23Ed Mylett?

  reason to want to stand and 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 be 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

• 27:08Ed Mylett?

  keep grinding through therapy.

• 27:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, my first big goal was to walk across the stage of my college graduation. And 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 then maybe 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, 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

• 27:53Speaker 04

  from so thousands of people of 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 and content right from a wheelchair. But then this kind of gave me that reason you talked about. Like, when your reason's bigger and to serve others, it drives you more. And so seeing that, if I can inspire other people. Um, through walking um and through overcoming my challenges, like I have to do that. Like I have to pursue that all my heart. So that's where the seven yard wedding walk

• 28:35Speaker 04

  became to be because I didn't want to walk on my wedding day like for myself. Neither did Emily. Like that's a lot of pressure. Like I've been put, you know, four to six hours a day training for this walk. And so putting that much pressure on your wedding day was not something I wanted to do. But you know what? There's a bigger 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 um, I, that's actually what's

• 29:15Speaker 04

  ironic is the documentary film team approached us, you know, almost a year, more than a year before the wedding. And I set this goal of seven yards and they named the movie Seven Yards and I couldn't even walk seven yards.

• 29:30Ed Mylett?

  Whoa, whoa, I did not know that.

• 29:33Speaker 04

  Yes, I couldn't even take a step because here's the thing that was different. Emily was in front of me for the graduation. Well, that's how I'm used to walking is leaning on somebody.

• 29:43Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 29:44Speaker 04

  But now the wedding, we want to do it side by side.

• 29:46Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 29:47Speaker 04

  We're 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 you know, I just pulled it together and was like, okay, we have to make it work. We have to figure it out.

• 30:02Ed Mylett?

  Hmm. Bro, I had no idea. So they named the dock 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 in it. It might be in a coffee shop somewhere where your story, what you overcome inspires one person. But here's this, this dude from Iowa playing, you know, small college football, gets this tremendous injury. Three hundred million flipping people get inspired by it?

• 30:46Ed Mylett?

  And that's before the Netflix documentary. It's crazy. And who'd have thought, man, when you were laying in that bed? Doing one more, feeding those messages, going to rehab, quiet. There's no, 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 gonna want you on every podcast. So it's just extraordinary what you've done. And then the wedding one, uh, you know, spoiler alert, it works out. And, uh, I, I was thinking, it's funny you say that, Chris. I'm thinking, man, it's my wedding day. I'd kind of like to kick back and enjoy this thing a little bit. And the whole dang time, the back of your mind, you have to be going, all right, in a minute here, I gotta pull this seven yard thing off.

• 31:29Ed Mylett?

  Was it on your mind through the whole service? Or could you actually enjoy it?

• 31:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, actually, and the other thing too, to add the more pressure of People Magazine, was like, we're gonna be there to cover it. And then we run into the story. So I had those two things. But here's the thing, actually, um, I got to the point where my faith really began to grow. And I just had this trust. And you're like, you know what? God's got us. I, I put in the work. I've done my part. And let's let God's plans really unveil itself. Because, um, we'll just see what happens. But I also knew I'm gonna marry the girl. Like, I get Emily. So no matter what happens, and the, the walk was a complete flop, I trip and fall, like, so be it. Like, I'm with this incredible human being that I get to spend

• 32:18Speaker 04

  the rest of my life with. Like, I already won. Like, I already did it. Like, you know what I mean? So like, that was already a big deal to me. And, uh, of course, you know, it worked out beautifully.

• 32:30Ed Mylett?

  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, you know, faith. It's, uh, remarkable, brother. Let's talk a little bit more about your faith. I just want to ask you about that. Cause that was a centerpiece while you were in the hospital, centerpiece throughout your life, centerpiece now, centerpiece for Emily. Um, 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?

• 33:04Speaker 04

  I was not a strong person of faith. Well, you know, I'm thankful that my parents, they dragged me to church on Sundays. I didn't want to go out, I wanted to sleep in. But they taught me about God. I did the Sunday School. I did FCA, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at my school. 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 eighteen years of life was like, I can figure it out. Like, I can do it on my own, you know, radical responsibility, right? And but then I got in a situation where the uncertainty was overwhelming and everything

• 33:47Speaker 04

  looked so bleak and like, 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 remembered the verses and the readings and the sermons of about who God and how he can take these broken pieces and turn it into something good and use this pain for a purpose and the mess for a message. And I just believed 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

• 34:30Speaker 04

  gave me that light at the end of the tunnel. So that's why, you know, my faith became so important in that time.

• 34:38Ed Mylett?

  Fine, when you talk, brother, I have to lean back in my chair because I'm leaning in so darn much to 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 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.

• 35:23Ed Mylett?

  But in you chasing your dream, everybody, it doesn't end up, and he walked down the aisle, and he walked to 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 leg's moving, or I feel something in my leg, you had a day where you and the family got all excited.

• 36:07Ed Mylett?

  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, ah, whatever. But when it's someone you admire or look up to, or is an authority figure, that can be devastating. And you had one of those incidences 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.

• 36:37Speaker 04

  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 it 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 the blanket slipped off the end of the blanket. When you're sleeping, you can feel like that cold air in your toes. I can feel on my left big toe, something special is happening. It feels like progress and something's happening.

• 37:22Speaker 04

  And so my dad, we're excited about it. The neurologist comes in, the doctor, and I'm explaining this to him. And I could just tell right away, just from his body language, he could care less. And then I ask him, well, can you take my shoe sock off and just? Examine this left big toe and he refuses.

• 37:43Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 37:44Speaker 04

  He says, you know, 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. You tricked yourself in thinking it's real and that, you know, these phantom feelings can happen to a lot of people. I was spinal cord injuries and, you know, I knew of what this phantom feeling. Something special was happening. And then the last thing he says.

• 38:15Speaker 04

  Chris, you'll never move anything in your legs ever again. And just turns and walks out like it's no big deal. And I was devastated. Like I was so crushed and my dad, you know, he's my rock, like he's like the strongest dude I know. I've never seen him cry in my life. And I see him cry for the first time.

• 38:42Speaker 04

  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 hear Georgia's words too. Like you will beat this. And so I'm listening to those voices and this wave of motivation just like sweeps over me. And I'm just like, you know what? I'm gonna prove this doctor wrong. And so I just get to work and I use it for fuel to the 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 never move again. Yeah, I was pumped. I was fired up.

• 39:27Speaker 04

  I tell all the nurses and therapists, you know, you go find that doctor, who I like to refer to as Doctor Phantom. And you bring him in here and you tell him the phantom is, I'll wiggle my toe and he's fine. I had a lot of things I wanted to say, but um he was gone that day. I was definitely too fired up, but it was such a special moment for me and my family.

• 39:53Ed Mylett?

  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 either 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 stealers are going to come along and some of them come from really credible 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. This guy did walk a graduation, he did walk the seven yards, he did marry his dream

• 40:38Ed Mylett?

  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?

• 40:51Speaker 04

  100% I would not have met Emily.

• 40:53Ed Mylett?

  So you know 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 them, 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 amazeballs. So let's share with them.

• 41:19Speaker 04

  Well, at this point, we have seven children, five adopted girls, and we also are co-parenting a seven-year-old and then fostering a two-year-old. And we have fostered a total of 18 children in all. And our age spread is our oldest girl that we adopted, she's 22 years old. So she's only six and seven years younger than Emily and I. And then we adopted a sibling group of four girls who are now 11, 10, 7, 5.

• 41:51Ed Mylett?

  Amazing family. You guys, you understand the difference that these two extraordinary souls have made in people's lives. I just, I, I think you're two of the most remarkable people I've, I've ever heard about, bro. And ironically, everybody, you know, Chris was introduced to me, I don't know, a few years ago, we've been talking off and 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, 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

• 42:34Ed Mylett?

  not had this incident take place. So I'm curious, here's an interesting question. Would you change things now?

• 42:44Speaker 04

  I wouldn't. I seriously would not go back and change that play. I just

• 42:49Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 42:50Speaker 04

  Open the doors to blessings that would have never happened if it weren't for the injury. Like meeting Emily, I also started the Chris Norton Foundation. We have a wheelchair camp for kids and families that's completely free. We have, you know, we donate equipment for people in their recovery goals. And then, you know, the motivational speaking, yeah, the books, the documentary, just the opportunities to inspire people. My, my family, like, just none of it would have happened if it weren't for the injury. So how could I ever go back and try to change that play? It's just, it's impossible.

• 43:26Ed Mylett?

  Is there something else, Chris, that we haven't covered that you would want to impart on to somebody who's listening, going, you know, I don't, I haven't had the extent of the setback that you had originally, but I'm really not where I want to be. Metaphorically, I'm kind of 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 that, I mean, I've got this amazing human on my show. I want to 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?

• 44:03Speaker 04

  You know, I think a big part of just my daily ritual and my my wellness that I 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, as you can imagine, as a quadriplegic, I have a laundry list of things I can't do. And you know, 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 um help me with my clothes and go with the bathroom. There's a lot of things, you know, I can't do. But despite all that, like, there are things I can do. And that's where, you know, my power, your power, everyone's powers are on those abilities and those possibilities.

• 44:47Speaker 04

  And so I really try to feed my my mind, my soul with all the things that I'm able to do. And I try to cut out blaming and complaining. Because you know, one of the most painful things that I have to deal with is just as a dad. So my dad, he was a very playful, active father. I'm really thankful to have someone like him. And I've always wanted to be like him, like teaching my kids how to throw a baseball and throw them around the pool and um teach them, you know, throw this football and basketball. You know, the list goes on and on. But those are things I can't do. And those are times where it

• 45:26Speaker 04

  I I struggle with that. But I pull myself out of that by reminding myself of the things that I can be. You know, 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 do. And so I'm not going to allow the things that I I can't do to paralyze me from the things that I can do.

• 45:52Ed Mylett?

  Interesting you use the word paralyze you from the things you can't do. It's an interesting, interesting word choice there, brother. Curious.

• 46:03Ed Mylett?

  I think you're 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. You know, I really process the things that you say. I just want everyone to have the reel here, too. You have bad days still, like really bad days? Or is this something like you just turned a page in life and you don't have them anymore because you're Mr. Grateful and you focus on the things you're good and that and not the things you're not good at? Or do you have days that are just like, hey, man, it's a bad one. It's a dark day for me. Do you still have those?

• 46:40Speaker 04

  I wouldn't say days. I would say moments. And that's what I try to keep them as 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 tough choices of, you know, filling yourself up with that perspective of gratitude and what you do have. And that's

• 47:25Speaker 04

  what I really try to do every single day.

• 47:28Ed Mylett?

  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.

• 48:10Speaker 04

  Absolutely. I think that's a big thing for anybody is just to be able to you know, love yourself before you can really love somebody else too, like to properly love them. It's gonna be really hard to cherish a relationship when you don't even cherish yourself. And so I know that I'm a children of God and he loves me and I'm called to do something. And so I just try to have that self-confidence about myself. I'm also 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.

• 48:53Speaker 04

  Like, I felt I was just so insecure with who I am. I can remember they were gonna drop me off at a friend's and at the graduation party. And I told them to park in the back because I didn't want anybody to see the successful vehicle. Like, I just felt so, I got stuck out. I still stick out. Like, people just automatically now assume that I'm miserable because I'm in a 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 for who I was. And I realized that the most valuable thing about a person is just how they serve and love others.

• 49:36Speaker 04

  And that's, that's what other people really care about anyway. And so I had to figure that out for myself.

• 49:41Ed Mylett?

  I love you. I love you. That's an absolute gem. That is all people care about. Yeah, I learned that working at 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 today so much. Now, listen, everybody. Number one, follow Chris on Instagram. You can book him as a speaker.

• 50:09Ed Mylett?

  You can go to his website. What's your website, brother?

• 50:11Speaker 04

  ChrisNorton.org.

• 50:13Ed Mylett?

  Well, that's gonna be really hard to find. ChrisNorton.org. I'm kidding. Go there, engage with him. I recommend you follow him on Instagram 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 where 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.

• 50:52Speaker 04

  Thank you, Ed. God bless. Appreciate you.

• 50:54Ed Mylett?

  All right. Share this with everyone, guys. Max out.

• 51:02Speaker 03

  This is The Ed Milat Show.