The Seven Longest Yards, by Chris and Emily Norton

Chris Norton was a standout on his college football team until a fateful tackle during his freshman season.  As hard as he tried to get up off the turf, he couldn't move a muscle below his neck.  In The Seven Longest Yards: Our Love Story of Pushing the Limits While Leaning on Each Other, he tells the story of his injury, his fight to recover, and of finding the love of his life.

First of all, fair warning: get the Kleenex ready.  I couldn't help putting myself in Chris's parent's shoes, thinking about how I would respond if my college-age son had a devastating injury such as Chris had.  He is privileged to have a loving, supportive family.  He was also privileged to benefit from NCAA insurance for injured athletes.  So he began his recovery on a solid foundation.

What sets Chris apart after his injury is his refusal to give up hope.  When doctors said he had a 3% chance of ever moving anything below his shoulders, or when a doctor told him he would never walk again, he rejected their predictions, determined to be that small percent to overcome the odds.  His mantra from the start was "Don't focus on what you can't do.  Focus on what you can do."  He has taken that attitude to launch a successful inspirational speaking career, as well as a foundation committed to providing medical care for other victims of spinal cord injuries.

Before he got there, though, he had a lot of work to do.  Having finished his coursework in the fall, he dedicated the spring semester to preparing to walk across the stage at his May graduation.  His girlfriend Emily agreed to assist him during this time.  She attended his therapies and was able work as his home assistant thanks to his insurance plan.

After his successful graduation walk went viral, he was inundated with media requests, appearing countless times.  It certainly helped that he proposed to Emily the night before graduation, adding their storybook romance to the tremendously inspiring story.  After the media buzz died down, Chris still had work to do, and Emily struggled with having given up her professional dreams to help him.  She spiraled into a deep depression, and writes about all she went through to overcome it.

I appreciated Chris and Emily's honesty.  They make no great claims about their faith or faithfulness.  In fact, when they became involved in a church after they moved to Florida, Chris writes that they each desired early on to date another Christian, but "our lives hadn't reflected that priority in a long time."  He said God "had never been a vital part of my everyday life."  Ultimately, they both grew in their faith together.  An elephant in the room that was never addressed is the fact that they lived together, moved to another state, bought a house, and started fostering kids together before they were ever married.  For a book about a Christian couple published by a Christian publisher, it's interesting that this time of cohabitation is never mentioned as such.

Chris and Emily are an inspiring couple in many ways: Chris overcoming the odds to walk, Emily overcoming her depression to function, the two of them committing to love needy children through foster care, and the vulnerability they have chosen to share their stories.  It's not the life they imagined, but it's "a life that exceeded anything we had ever imagined."  They have shown that "with God, all things are truly possible."


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!