It’s easy to take things for granted, especially when it’s something like walking or running.
We don’t always think about what our lives would be like if we couldn’t do those things. Simple things, like going for a run. Or big moments like walking down the aisle at your wedding.
For 26-year-old Chris Norton, being paralyzed made him so much more aware of what he would miss out on. But, his faith in God and a stubborn streak wouldn’t allow him to sit and feel sorry for himself. He knew he would one day walk again.
In 2010, Chris was a freshman at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He was on the college football team and in the middle of a game against Central College. The then-18-year-old said he mistimed a play and was slammed into the ground.
Signed footballs given to Chris Norton show prayers and bible verses to help him during his recovery. Photo by Adam Wilson
Lying there, he said it felt like “someone had turned the power off to my body.” The entire stadium went silent, he said.
I’m trying to push [myself up] off the ground, but nothing’s working. I prayed to God to please let me just get up and walk off the field.”
Chris was airlifted to the hospital and doctors told him that he had fractured his C3-C4 vertebrae. He had only a three percent chance of ever moving anything below his neck again. Let alone walk ever again.
But the young man refused to let that be his future.
“I wasn’t going to accept that,” he said. “I was going to be part of that three percent (that moved again).”
He spent a year giving his all to rehabilitation. His family never left his side, and as time went on Chris regained some of his previous strength. He finally went back to school, starting as a sophomore.
Between school and rehabilitation, he also started the Chris Norton Foundation, which raises money for people with spinal cord injuries.
But life wasn’t without its worries and struggles. Chris also began to wonder if finding someone to share his life with would be out of reach.
“I wanted to be a dad and have a wife,” he said.
But I didn’t want to burden somebody with everything I needed.”
After some failed dates, he set up an online dating profile. Shortly after that, he matched with Emily Summers, a college student who also shared the same strong Christian faith that Chris had.
Chris and Emily Norton as they walk down the aisle after getting married. Photo by Sarah Kate
“I was waiting for that girl who made me feel alive and someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” he said, “and then here comes Emily. I knew she was on the one.”
She felt the same.
“I was extremely drawn to him and his story,” Emily said, “and how he wasn’t just going to give up. That’s how we first connected.”
Chris and Emily began working daily on rehabilitation to achieve their first goal – having Chris walk across the stage at his college graduation.
The night before he graduated, Chris asked Emily to marry him. She said yes, and the following morning, they both walked across the stage while 3,000 people cheered for them. That first video went viral, with more than 300 million views.
Chris and Emily made it their next goal to have Chris walk down the aisle at their wedding. And they did.
In front of family and friends, the couple exchanged vows. Then Summers leaned down, and using all of her strength, wrapped her arms around Chris and helped pick him out of his wheelchair. Turning, they began the walk together down the seven yard aisle.
The couple both thank the faith in God for helping them get to this point. “I put my trust in God and then I just went to work … Your future will take care of itself when you take care of today and that was my mindset, that was my motto,” Chris said.
Watch below for a look at this amazing couple and their wedding. Also below, is the viral video of Chris walking to get his diploma!
