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SALT LAKE CITY — Sometimes it’s easier to focus on the things a person with a disability can’t do.
“Things that I can’t do: I can’t drive legally. I can’t operate a chainsaw much, I’ve never really tried,” said Chris Koch, a farmer who was born without arms or legs. “I can’t weed whip or weed whack. I cannot swim to save my life. You drop a bowling ball and me in the water at the same time, I will beat the bowling ball to the bottom nine times out of nine. I was going to say nine times out of time but no, it’s 100 percent.”
But Koch is not one to dwell on his physical limitations. Rather, he uses his disability to inspire and provide encouragement to others. He speaks publicly and recently raised about $16,000 for the Calgary Zoo.
Koch hops about his work, pitching hay and driving tractors around the farm without the use of prosthetics, but with a smile and a joke.
“We all have bad days. It’s a fact of life,” he wrote on his blog, ifican.ca. "If you can take the hiccups you encounter and put a funny spin on them, you’ll find that life isn’t all that difficult.”
To see more of his life on the farm and hear more of his story, click on the video above.
