Paralyzed Groom Who Miraculously Walked Down Aisle Has Adopted 5 Girls With His Wife

A man who walked his bride down the aisle despite being paralyzed from the neck down is inspiring America again — by fostering and adopting children without homes.

"We have fostered 17 children and we've adopted five girls," Chris Norton told Inside Edition's Les Trent. "I'm outnumbered, Les! I need help, I need help!"

Norton and his wife, Emily, are sharing their story in a new memoir, "The Seven Longest Yards."

"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," Norton said. "All the way from spinal cord injury to that wedding day."

After suffering a devastating injury during a college football game in 2010, Norton was told he'd never walk again. But when he met Emily, she inspired him to get stronger, helping him walk at his college graduation and on their wedding day in 2018.

But as well as their triumphs, the Iowa couple admits there have been serious struggles, too.

"I really went through a dark depression," Emily said. "I struggled with anxiety and I slowly just started losing myself. ... To be able to just admit that I need help ... that was something that I had never been able to do."

Now, the couple has decided to start a family in their own way: by fostering and adopting.

"We know the need," Emily said. "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."

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