Man Left Paralyzed After Accident Has Now Fostered 17 Children And Adopted 5 Girls
Remember Chris Norton, the college football player from Iowa who was paralyzed during a game in 2010 and told he might never walk again, let alone feed himself?
Well, you won’t believe how far this inspiring man has come now. From finding the strength to push through physical therapy to marrying the girl of his dreams, Chris Norton has proven that what others see as impossible is in fact quite possible indeed.
Norton has come a long way since he was 18. Now he’s doing more before his 30s than many people do within their lifetime.
The former football player has learned to be thankful for every hurdle in his way. If he hadn’t been injured on the field that day he might not have met Emily, the woman who became his wife.
It was Emily who helped Norton walk across the stage at his college graduation in 2015. Through much hard work, Norton was even able to walk her down their aisle at their 2018 wedding — something he was told he would likely never experience.
“We made the decision that we’re going to do this together,” Emily shared in an interview with Inside Edition. And they certainly look great side-by-side and hand-in-hand.
Now not only are they living married life to the full, but even before making their partnership official the Nortons had been given a heart for fostering and then adopting, and their married life started out with an instant family.
“We have fostered 17 children and we’ve adopted five girls,” Norton told Inside Edition in a more recent interview.
“We know the need,” Emily added. “So we just look at it like we’re in this position to give love, to give them a family and help them know they’re not alone.”
Their oldest daughter, Whittley, isn’t much younger than them.
While in high school, Whittley got into trouble. With no one else consistently in her life, she turned to Emily, who had been her mentor, for help.
“I hated watching her bounce from house to house, group home to group home, never getting the help she needed,” Emily shared with Love What Matters. “The idea of her aging out of the foster care system without a real family scared me.”
It wasn’t easy, bringing a teen into their lives, but with tough love and determination, Emily and Chris helped Whittley graduate from high school and become part of a truly stable home — for perhaps the first time in her life.
Soon after taking Whittley under their wings, the couple brought four sisters in, as well. The Nortons’ wedding was only four months away, and yet they already had five daughters in their house.
“There were so many moments when I threw up my hands and prayed, God, I need you right now because I absolutely cannot do this alone,” Emily said. “But even in the midst of the insanity, I felt this overwhelming sense of peace. I knew God brought us these girls for a reason, and I was determined to give them all the love and help they needed.”
Chris and Emily’s new memoir, “The Seven Longest Yards,” highlights their incredible journey and all the ups and downs along the way.
The book released July 9 and is currently an Amazon Best Seller.
“The seven yards comes from my goal to walk Emily seven yards down the aisle on our wedding, to do it side by side, and it took seven years in the making,” Chris told Inside Edition. “All the way from spinal cord injury to that wedding day.”
The five daughters have been officially adopted, but that doesn’t mean the couple’s done quite yet.
“By now it’s safe to say we have no idea what the future holds,” Emily said. “If the past is any indicator, it won’t look anything like what we imagine even now.
“God’s plans are always bigger and better than our own. We can’t wait to see how God uses us next.”
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