Visitor without arms or legs amazes kids in D 57 class
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Brett Eastburn, who was born without arms or legs, once tried to jump from his neighbor’s roof onto his wheelchair.
He missed.
His mom came running outside and found him sprawled on the lawn next to his chair.
“She told me, ‘You’re grounded,’” Eastburn told a group of Mount Prospect students on Friday. “I told her I couldn’t be more grounded than I already was.’”
Eastburn spoke to Lincoln Middle School students on Friday. They gasped when he bounced from his wheelchair to a table and applauded when he opened a can of Coke using his teeth.
But most of all they laughed. Joking that he’s a terrible hitchhiker, Eastburn never gave them a chance to feel uncomfortable.
“I know when you first saw me some people thought, Oh that poor guy, he probably can’t do anything,” Eastburn said. “But some people thought, Wow, he’s pretty good looking.”
Eastburn, 39, was born near South Bend, Ind. with a congenital birth defect known as Quad-membral Limbs Deficiency. He doesn’t dwell on the terminology. “That’s the way God made me,” he says simply.
Growing up, he figured out how to unlock doors and arrange the kitchen cabinets into a staircases. Then there’s the time he climbed into his Tonka car and headed down the driveway.
“Whatever you want to do, go back and keep trying,” he said. “Do you know how long I had to chew on a can before I figured out a way to open it?”
Eastburn played baseball, football and basketball and in high school he wrestled on the varsity team. After graduating he became a green belt in the martial arts. He is also an artist and comedian.
Today, Eastman and his wife of 10 years, Chrisa, tour the country giving motivational speeches. The two met in a bar playing pool.
On Friday, he showed kids how he tosses a football and basketball and used his martial arts training to split a wood board. He also did his best to address the sea of raised hands. Turns out the kids had a few questions:
How do you drive? Can you cook? How do you find clothes? Can you brush you teeth? Can you take a shower?
Eastburn answered them all in the affirmative. Even the shower question.
“I can take care of everything on my own,” he said. “You’ll have to trust me. I can’t show ya.”
Lincoln Principal Don Angelaccio said Eastburn’s message about never giving up was good timing — report cards went out on Friday.
