sweat Dums ms eyes. A ' cramp rips at

sweat Dums ms eyes. A ' cramp rips at his stomach. And : his knees and hips smart.

“Good job Chris!” assistant coach Rich Hogan yells. “Go ahead and take a break.”

Quit? Not Chris Nugent. That’s never been his style.

The chipping hand& bf &is ' /teammates inspire Christo pick up speed. He’s a kid determined to reach the finish line. He’s been through too much to quit now. - His entire life, people have told ; him he couldn’t do things. Or tried to encourage him to quit.

Each time, Chris has succeeded. Ibday would be no different. He would finish his run.

Minutes later, Chris trudges across the final line, waddling from side-to-side as his teammates reach out with handshakes and high-fives.

“Chris is an inspiration to us all,” said his best friend Jacob Drake. “You look at him and all he has to go through just to play football, and you have to feel good. He’s a warrior. One of the toughest kids I know.” ( In 1991, Chris’ mother, Tricia Nicodemus, gave birth to Chris six months into her pregnancy. Her premature baby boy weighed only three pounds and 10 ounces at tiie time. He was placed in an incubator for eight weeks, where doctors monitored his body temperature and breathing.

The outer layer of his brain had yet to fully develop. His ’'mother and father, Mark Nugent, were told that Chris was bom With Spastic Diplegia, a form of Cerebral Palsy that affects the lower portions of the body, namely the legs and pelvis area with stiff inflexible, or contracted muscles. A lot of times - as is the ’ case with Chris - the lower legs twist inward, making it difficult - to walk or even stand. ' His parents feared the worse.

Would he walk? What limitations would he have? Could he live a normal life?

Never could they have imagined that at 16 years old, Chris would play football.