Couple visiting Schaumburg High, on disabilities: 'The best thing that ever happened'
Inspired by the story of a Schaumburg High School student with no legs who nonetheless plays football, Jay Cramer and Katy Sullivan visited the high school on Monday to share their own tales of overcoming adversity and how they live, and even thrive, with disabilities.
Cramer, a Dundee-Crown High School graduate, suffered a spinal cord injury while rock climbing nine years ago and lost the use of his legs. His wife, Katy Sullivan, was born a bilateral, above-the-knee amputee and has worn prosthetics her whole life, much like Schaumburg football player Sabik Cohran.
Neither Sullivan nor Cramer let their disabilities get in their way and encouraged students not to let challenges keep them from achieving their dreams, either.
"Falling that day is the best thing that ever happened to me," Cramer said, talking about the opportunities he has had throughout his recovery. "Your whole life can change in the blink of an eye."
After a 9½-hour surgery and two months hooked up to feeding tubes, Cramer said he woke up one day and decided to laugh his way through the situation.
That led to him trying to be a comedian, which in turn led to him opening for people like Adam Sandler and Whitney Cummings.
It also led him to his wife, whom he met at the rehab center in California where he is now a mentor for patients with spinal cord injuries.
His acting career took off, too, with parts on "Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS: LA" and "Desperate Housewives."
Sullivan, meanwhile, has been dealing with physical disabilities since birth.
"I was born into a family of people who didn't see me as broken," Sullivan said. "But no one is normal. We are all interesting, unique and wonderful in our own beautiful ways."
Sullivan, an actress and a singer - she sang at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and has had parts on "My Name is Earl" and "Last Man Standing," among other shows - was living in Los Angeles when, at 25, she decided to try running for the first time.
She put on a pair of prosthetics built for racing but quickly discovered it wasn't that easy. She had never run, so she had to train from the beginning.
Eventually she made the Paralympics Team USA and began competing internationally. But with so few female bilateral above-the-knee amputee runners, she was often racing against people who still had one leg or even both legs but were missing an arm or had other lesser disabilities.
Running the 100-meter race at her first Pan American games in Rio de Janeiro, she came in dead last. Still, it was a personal-best time, so Sullivan celebrated and the crowd joined in with her.
"Don't sell yourself short," she told Schaumburg students after relating that story. "You have to celebrate every victory."
Later, in London, she came in 6th place, setting another personal and an American record.
The duo's message was well-received by Cohran, the Schaumburg High School student who had both of his legs amputated above the knee at age 2 - a disability that hasn't stopped him from playing high school football.
"It was fantastic seeing how they overcome these obstacles. It's just so amazing how they look at everything," Cohran said.
After the talk on Monday, Cohran got to meet Cramer and Sullivan, who offered to help him get his first pair of running prosthetics.
"It's really difficult to go through something like this, so it's inspirational to hear from other people what is possible for me," he said.
Able: Couple offer to help Schaumburg student get running prosthetics