Paralyzed man Jeff Carlson who wanted to scale a mountain gets friends to CARRY him

Home Top

Welcome to 'Francisville'! Emotional thousands greet Pope Francis in Philadelphia as pontiff says church needs to 'break down walls' and suggests he will address the city's church sex abuse scandal
'He whispered I'm going to kill you': Brave sisters reveal how knife-man snuck into their home, stabbed one and vowed to kill the other - before hero cop answered call and shot him dead
Bobbi Kristina Brown's 'cause of death is known but authorities won't release findings until criminal investigation is completed'
Michael Sam says he 'would still be in the NFL' if he hadn't come out after stepping away from the Canadian Football League
First women to pass Ranger School were given extra training and lowered benchmarks after general vowed 'at least one of them will pass', report claims
Germany in a state of SIEGE: Merkel was cheered when she opened the floodgates to migrants. Now, with gangs of men roaming the streets and young German women being told to cover up, the mood's changing
Now MORE Hillary Clinton emails surface - between her and disgraced general David Petraeus - after she swore she turned over 'all of them'
Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson backs Trump after tycoon vowed to bring back Christmas and brandished his childhood Bible in an appeal to the conservative right
Clinton campaign's faux pas: New Hillary ad boasts 'this is our country'; while showing a video of FRANCE (of all places)
Religious right crowd erupts in boos when Trump attacks Marco Rubio as a 'clown' and says 'nobody's weaker' on immigration
'Despicable' Saudi prince 'sexually abused at least FOUR women during three-day party at his $37m Beverly Hills compound'
Our toilet breaks are so short we have to pee in the water fountains, complain staff at internet shopping giant Asos
The stroke SAVED her life: Kim Zolciak's medical emergency 'revealed she has a more serious underlying heart condition that was treated immediately'
Can YOU spot a love cheat from their face? Scientists say you can - now see if you can identify which six of these 12 people have been unfaithful
At least a dozen fake doctors performed botched surgeries on patients in elaborate $150M fraud scheme that spanned a decade
Super blood moon eclipse will not herald the end of the world this weekend, says Mormon Church after apocalyptic warnings from Doomsday pastor
The heart-warming moment a little lion cub practised his roar for tourists... only to give himself a fright with the tiny sound
Syrian rebel commander who completed a US training program admits to giving military equipment to an al-Qaida affiliate
Revealed: The satellite photos that prove Putin is still arming Assad to shore up his embattled regime in defiance of the West
Touching moment Pope Francis stopped his motorcade to kiss a 10-year-old disabled boy waiting on the tarmac with rosary beads
EXCLUSIVE: Little girl who begged Pope Francis to let her illegal immigrant parents stay in the U.S. is going to Philadelphia to see him AGAIN
The heavens smile down on Pope Francis: Dozens of 'rainbows' appear above New York as huge crowds flock to see the Pontiff
Holy water: Congressman steals Pope Francis' glass after White House address to sip remaining liquid with his wife - and then saves some to sprinkle on his grandchildren
An 'overwhelming' crowd of 80,000 people gathers to see the Pope in Central Park ahead of his huge mass at Madison Square Garden

Jeff Carlson was born with the backbone defect known as spina bifida
He decided he wanted to climb a mountain and his friends had an idea
After climbing the first part of Thunder Bay's tallest peak Mount McKay in Ontario, Canada, his friends took it in turns carrying him up
Once at the top Jeff revelled in his achievement and posed for pictures

Published: 07:08 EST, 25 September 2015 | Updated: 10:06 EST, 25 September 2015

View
comments

This heart-warming footage captures a paralyzed man making it to the top of a mountain after his 12 friends got together to carry him there.

Jeff Carlson was born with the backbone defect known as spina bifida, and has been bound to a wheelchair his entire life.

But unwilling to allow his disability to hold him back, he decided he wanted to climb a mountain and his friend Damien Gilbert came up with an ingenious way of getting him to the top.

Jeff Carlson was born with spina bifida and has been bound to a wheelchair his entire life

Jeff climbed the first part of Thunder Bay's tallest peak Mount McKay in Ontario, Canada, by himself, wheeling along the muddy path with his arms.

As the mountain became steeper however, his friends transferred him onto a wooden board and took it in turns carrying him to the top.

Once there Jeff posed for photographs and revelled in his achievement while looking out on the spectacular landscape.

Jeff said: 'I am an adventurous guy - I have seen pictures of friends climbing the mountain and I thought it needed to be done.

Jeff decided he wanted to climb a mountain and his friend Damien Gilbert came up with an ingenious way of getting him to the top

Jeff was transferred onto a wooden board before his friends took turns carrying him up the mountain

'When I mentioned I had never been there before, Damien figured I needed to experience it - he has been up the mountain several times.

'Damien got a crew together a couple of weeks later.

'I figure just because you have a disability, it doesn't limit what you can achieve.

'I have always felt that my disability doesn't limit me to what I can do, so this just kind of reaffirmed that.

'I am really glad I did it, I think everything needs to experience an adventure like that in their lifetime.

Jeff said that he had seen pictures of friends climbing the mountain and thought it needed to be done

Jeff's friend Damian said that although the journey wasn't easy he would definitely do something like this again

'I would love to go up a taller mountain!'

Damien said: 'Jeff and I talked about doing the adventure after a picture he'd seen of me on the edge of a cliff.

'I told him 'I'm going to carry you up there' - so I did the next month.

'I organised 12 amazing crew members - it wasn't easy but once we started we weren't giving up.

'I would definitely do something like this again - it's such a great feeling to give someone an opportunity that they never would have got a chance before.'