‘Game-changer’: How an ESPN reporter helped a Myrtle Beach quadriplegic get back on beach
Myrtle Beach resident Chris Skinner has always had a special connection to the ocean and beach.
He surfed while growing up in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the beach is where he now most enjoys time with his family.
That’s what made a surprise gift from ESPN reporter Marty Smith so special.
The two became friends while attending Radford University, before Skinner suffered an injury that made him a quadriplegic at the age of 20. When Smith saw an appeal on Facebook by Skinner to help him purchase an all-terrain wheelchair that would allow him to ride on the beach, he acted.
Smith raised money and presented Skinner late last summer with a TracFab tracked all-terrain wheelchair.
The customized chair has a tilt-back feature that takes pressure off Skinner’s tailbone and allows him to avoid sores on his buttocks from riding on the beach that previously forced him to remain in bed for weeks or months while they healed.
Skinner only used the chair a couple times last year before beach season was over.
“It’s a game-changer. It’s definitely a life saver,” Skinner said. “I grew up surfing as a kid and I love the beach. It gives me back so much. To be close to the ocean it just gives me a whole lot of energy. It feeds me spiritually. It’s just great.
“Before I was always having to sit on the pier and watch my family from the pier, and that would make me feel so left out. Now I have the ability to get on the beach and enjoy them like I should.”
A lot more people know about Skinner and his new wheelchair this week because Smith posted a 10-minute video essay about it that he posted on his Twitter account on Monday, and it has received nearly 300,000 views as of Saturday afternoon.
Smith surprised Skinner with the wheelchair on the beach at Myrtle Beach State Park and filmed it.
“I hope that inspires people, you know,” said Skinner, who takes part in adaptive surfing. “When I look at it I see a guy like Marty who is not here in person every single day, but it doesn’t make him back away from doing something good in someone’s life. That’s inspiring to me.
“He could have very easily seen something on the internet and been like, ‘Oh that stinks.’ But he didn’t just say ‘Oh that stinks for Skinner.’ He reached out and he made it happen. . . . We can actually reach out and pay it forward like Marty did. I think it’s amazing.”
Smith set up an eBay auction for a trip to spend a day with him at a Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell concert in Charlotte, with the help of the two country stars. He also had Clemson coach Dabo Swinney FaceTime the winner, who was from Ohio, after learning he was a big Clemson fan.
A GoFundMe page also contributed to the purchase of the TracFab chair.
“Since Chris was injured 20 years ago it has been his life’s mission to use the mistakes that he made and the regrets that he has in order to create a testimony that has inspired countless people, one of whom is me,” Smith said in his video.
Skinner was paralyzed in a single-vehicle crash. He left a friend’s wedding reception inebriated and got into a vehicle driven by an intoxicated driver for a short ride to a house. “I remember people that night were saying it’s no big deal, it’s just around the corner,” Skinner said.
He took his seat belt off to put tobacco in his mouth, and that’s when the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled over, ejecting Skinner.
His spinal cord was severed at C5/C6 vertebrae in his lower neck, resulting in his paralysis. He was sedated in a coma in 13 days and awoke to learn of his injury.
Skinner can move his arms but can’t feel them, and can’t move anything below his chest.
He has been a traveling motivational speaker for the past 17 years, often visiting schools and churches. He speaks to groups about choices and decisions.
“I try to get people to really, really focus on each and every choice they make,” Skinner said. “Why it’s important is because every single choice could be our last, and every single choice has a consequence whether it’s a good consequence or negative consequence.
“So I really want people to take a look at my circumstance and my situation, and in just the snap of a finger anything can happen.”
He shows groups pictures of him before the accident, and goes through the last day of “his time here on earth as an able-bodied person.”
Skinner’s wife, Suzie, is a physical therapist at Tidelands Health Rehabilitation, and they met after his injury at the rehab center where she worked. The couple has 12-year-old twins – a boy and girl. “They’ve just kind of been a light and a fire and energy for me all these years,” Skinner said.
About six years ago, the couple wanted to move from Radford, Virginia, where Skinner attended both undergraduate and graduate school, to a beach area.
“The Outer Banks are not very handicap-accessible, and The Market Common area is really accessible, so we decided to make the move,” Skinner said.
The family expects to spend a lot of time together on the beach this summer, thanks to Marty Smith.
This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 3:54 PM.
