Chris Koch might not have any hands or legs but that doesn’t that doesn’t stop him from being an excellent farmer who loves driving tractors.
Chris was born without forearms or legs, but otherwise, he was completely healthy. Thankfully, he was born into a family that wasn’t only going to be there to support him, but they were going to make sure he was going to be as independent as anyone else. They also have a great sense of humor — especially his grandmother.
Just hours after Chris’s birth, his grandma decided to crack a lighthearted joke. She said that “Bruce (his father) never did finish anything he started.” Chris says his grandmother’s sarcastic and dry sense of humor made growing up without hands or legs “quite easy.”
He can’t drive legally, he says he can’t operate a chainsaw or swim — but otherwise, he is capable of doing almost everything a ‘normal’ person could do.
“It takes me upwards of 400% more energy to do everyday tasks than someone with arms or legs. I’m hopping on one leg, it’s a good little workout,” Chris explains with a bit of humor.
Chris is a farmhand at Apricot Lane Farms. He helps with nearly all of the tasks and needs of the working farm — including driving a tractor. He grew up riding tractors and decided he wanted to start driving them himself around the age of 9 or 10.
“Talking to my dad, I asked him ‘what did you do differently with me than you would have any other kid?’ and he said ‘Nothing,'” Chris said.
Chris credits his total independence because of his parents and family’s approach to raising him — which was to treat him as if he were any other kid. They decided that they were not going to put limits on him because of his “disability.”
As a child, Chris had prosthetic limbs; however, he hated wearing them. He’d get in trouble at school for not having them on and be sent to the office. They just never felt right to him. In fact, Chris says he didn’t feel like he didn’t have any arms or legs — he felt like all the other kids.
“Some people are ashamed of their freckles or some people are ashamed of that spare tire around their waist; they have big ears or a big nose or whatever. I think if you’re worried about how you look, you’re cheating yourself out of opportunities,” Chris says.
Chris’s powerful story and video are below. He is a true inspiration.
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