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Tonight's Arkansan of the Week was--by his own admission--unmotivated, until about two years ago, when a life-altering accident forever changed his outlook on life.
Matt Courson was college student and baseball player with a bright future. But on a spring night in 2006, Matt was riding a four-wheeler down a west Little Rock street when he had an accident.
His ATV plummeted down an embankment.
(Matt Courson, Motivational Speaker) “I fell into a bed of ants. When I woke up, I was knocked out for a few minutes. I woke up and my arm was black. I knocked off all the ants. I couldn't move. I knew something was right. I was staring at the stars, and I knew something wasn't right.”
Matt was paralyzed from the waist down. His doctors told him there was a 99% chance he'd never walk again.
(Courson) “My first reaction to that was, well, you're telling me I have a 1% chance to walk.”
Matt's hometown of McGhee held fundraiser after fundraiser to allow him access to the best rehab and the best technology. And, Matt is driven to walk again. In the meantime, he's found a new career: Motivational speaker.
Paying his own way, and taking his own pickup all over Arkansas, Matt has made more than 50 public speaking engagements since his accident--and has inspired countless individuals going through similar trials.
(Courson) “Everybody deals with stuff in life. Kind of have a bend in their road. Their road seems so perfect, and they have a bend in their road. Things don't always happen the way you anticipate them to happen. But, you can get through those bends.”
Matt is determined to get through his bend--and has made progress. He can stand on his own, and bear his own weight. But, as tough as his life has been the last two years, he wouldn't have it any other way.
(Courson) “This happened for a reason. I tell it in my story. If I had to go back to the same night I started up my four-wheeler, I wouldn't change a thing. Because, I feel like I've made a difference in other people's lives that wouldn't have been made if it weren't for my accident.”
Matt plans to go to into politics when he graduates from college.
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