A little over a month ago, our former Episode 47 guest, Eric LeGrand posted the Facebook Live video featured below. I watched in amazement as Chris Norton worked with the team from Barwis Methods in Plymouth Michigan during one of his rehab sessions. Chris, who on the same day as Eric LeGrand (October 16, 2010), was also severely injured while making a tackle on a kickoff for Luther College in Iowa. Chris fractured his C3-C4 vertebrae and was told he had a 3% chance of ever regaining movement below the neck. Chris has defied the odds every step of the way. His determination is apparent when watching each rep being accomplished in this video. The amazing support system around him, led by his fiancée Emily, is also a driving force in Chris's recovery. Since Chris’ injury he has also set up the SCI CAN Foundation, which raises funds to address equipment and other needs at hospitals and rehabilitation centers for patients that weren’t as fortunate as he was. I immediately sent Chris an email to get him on the podcast after watching this video and highly recommend you watch it before reading the rest this post. Chris and I started off the episode by talking about his football career leading up to his spinal cord injury. Chris seems like he played the game a lot like I did and prided himself on being a tough player who was not afraid to throw his body around and make contact. Chris then took me through the moments that led up to the injury. At the time, Chris was a freshman trying to make a name for himself on special teams. The opposing player who returned the kickoff had a full-back like build to him. Being a freshman and somewhat undersized because of that, Chris went low to make the tackle. For anyone who has ever played football before, you hear the phrase "low man wins" at nauseam. The easiest way to tackle a player who outweighs you is to take them out by their legs (as long as they are not a defenseless receiver, but I digress). In trying to keep his head in front of the ball carrier, which is also constantly taught by coaches, he was kneed in the head and subsequently injured his spinal cord. Initially he thought he just had a stinger and didn’t think much of it, but as time went on and his feeling and movement wasn’t coming back he began to realize the severity of his injury, especially when they called for a helicopter. Chris said he felt embarrassed when he was lying on the field unable to get up because he prided himself on not being hurt and playing through injuries (sounds like someone I know...). Believe it or not, while in the helicopter, Chris was able to remain calm, despite having extreme difficulty breathing. He focused on taking one breathe at a time to calm himself down. When he arrived at the hospital, doctors gave him 3 percent chance to regain movement below his neck. We talk about how that kind of grim news from doctors can affect people in their response to adversity. In the early stages of Chris' rehab, his therapy consisted of simply
