Paralyzed 26-Year-Old Marries His 'Dream' Girl And Raises Five Foster Children

May 10, 2018

Dreams came true for a 26-year-old Chris Norton, who thought his life was over after a terrible accident. But it was just the beginning of a new one.

The day his life had changed forever

For more than seven years, Norton has been bounded to a wheelchair after a football accident, which left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Публикация от Chris Norton (@chrisanorton16) 3 Апр 2018 в 12:04 PDT

It happened in 2010, just six weeks after Norton had started studying at Luther College in Iowa, when he was playing on a football field. After mistiming a play, he was left lying on the field with a spinal cord injury.

When he was airlifted to the hospital, Norton was told he had a three percent chance of ever moving anything below his neck ever again.

Meeting the ‘dream’ girl

Norton wasn’t ready to give up. He gained his strength and returned to the college a year after. But he was wondering if he will ever be able to meet his ‘dream’ girl who will love and accept him as he is. Norton said:

I wanted to be a dad and have a wife. But I didn’t want to burden somebody with everything I needed.

After a few unsuccessful dates, he set his profile on a dating website in 2013. It was there where he met Emily Summers, his future wife.

Публикация от Chris Norton (@chrisanorton16) 26 Апр 2018 в 11:59 PDT

On April 21, 2018, Chris Norton walked his smiling bride down the aisle - something that was always just a dream for him.

Публикация от Chris Norton (@chrisanorton16) 25 Апр 2018 в 5:56 PDT

Fostering children

Growing up, Emily was helping to mentor underprivileged youth and always wanted to be a foster mom. In 2016, she met a 17-year-old Whittley, whom she guided through many obstacles in life. When the teen asked then 23-year-old Norton and 22-year-old Summers to foster her, they said ‘yes’ with no hesitation.

Публикация от Emily Norton (@emilysummersnorton) 10 Фев 2018 в 1:56 PST

Whittley also inspired the young couple to take in five more children, who are all under the age of eight.

Публикация от Emily Norton (@emilysummersnorton) 8 Апр 2018 в 10:31 PDT

Future goals

A non-profit organization called Fotolanthropy that celebrates stories of people who overcame life’s obstacles despite the odds, started to work on a documentary about Norton’s story. The organization has already raised over $111,000 but it needs $250,000 to finish the film.

Chris has become a motivational speaker, inspiring others to "stand up".

In 2012, Norton has also started Chris Norton Foundation the aim of which is to help people with spinal cord injuries. Since then, it has raised over $800,000.