Darrius, this story it makes me so happy
because people like you just are so inspirational to the world.
Thank you.
First of all-- and you're an amazing piano player.
Thank you.
So you were born with three fingers on one
hand, one on the other, had to get your legs amputated pretty
much right away, right?
Yes, ma'am.
And do the doctors know why?
The doctors don't know why exactly
I was born the way I am.
But my mom over the years put together this little plot.
So my mom, she's a nurse.
And she was crushing down a medication,
breaking it up for a patient because he
couldn't take pills whole.
I don't know what she put it in.
But this pill was actually known for causing birth defects.
And my mom did not know that she was pregnant with me
at the time.
So she was crushing it up, not only for him, but for a couple
more other patients too.
So that's when she kind of--
she was exposed to it.
So that's how she kind of figured
that's why I have birth defects.
Man, oh, man.
Because she didn't know that she was pregnant at the time.
Right, yeah.
Wow.
So grow up-- this is the way you grow up.
And I know the story.
But you just-- there's no difference to you.
If someone says, would you rather
have 10 fingers and two legs that are--
and you say, no.
Honestly my answer to that is no.
To me, I feel like if I had all 10 fingers and both legs,
I would look weird personally to myself.
Because I grew up and this is all I've known.
I didn't have an accident or nothing
to make me have a birth defect or a disability or nothing.
This is all I've known.
So three fingers-- one finger here, two legs here,
it's normal to me.
And I absolutely love it about myself
because I'm able to connect with people on such a deeper level.
Like with y'all today.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
But you must have been--
I mean, kids must have been cruel when you were growing up.
They must have made fun of you.
And you just have this amazing strength.
I mean, you get a couple of little knuckleheads out there.
You know what I'm saying?
You get a couple of little knuckleheads.
But honestly, me and my friends joke about it
all the time, man.
We joke about it because I'm not the person
to be down about nothing.
I look for positivity in every single situation that it is.
So some people look at this as a negative,
but I'm proving to everybody, even tonight,
that it's a positive, for sure.
Yes, you are.
[APPLAUSE]
All right, so there are some kids that are just born,
and they just are drawn to something that--
I have a lot of kids on the show that just grow up
loving science and planets.
But piano was not your first passion.
You loved football.
Yes, actually my first passion and love was football.
That was my number one dream growing up as a kid.
And when I went, it was freshman year.
That was my first, I guess you could say, reality shock.
Like, to know that when the football coach told me
I couldn't play, it was, like--
OK, now it's time to start thinking of plan B.
And I'm not going to lie, that hurt me when I was growing up,
because football was something that I always loved to do.
I knew all the coverages, Hall of Famers, all that.
I was really into it.
And to be told that you couldn't play,
you start to look for something else to find a passion with.
And the piano was just right there.
And I used all the emotions that I
was feeling from being told no, and put it into the piano.
And I just blossomed from there.
I know but you've got to--
I mean, for you to go-- you know what?
I have three fingers on one hand, one finger on the other
and piano.
I'm going to go for piano.
That's my instrument.
And you are really good at it.
It's not like you were drawn to it when you were a kid.
It was your fallback, and then you're brilliant at it.
It's crazy.
Right away you just started playing piano,
and you're like-- oh, yeah?
It took a little bit of work.
I ain't going to lie.
It took a little bit of work.
It started way back in church.
In church, my grandpa, he'd sit there and play something
on the piano.
And then I would play something just to out-beat him.
Because he can't play nothing.
He'll say he will.
He can't play nothing.
So I sit here and I just would try to out-beat him every day.
And then my mom--
I'd say a couple of months after me and him was
going back and forth doing this, my mom
pulled out this old keyboard that her mom had
from when probably I think when she was little.
And I was playing on it.
And then one day it caught on fire.
So it started a while ago.
Because of the way you played it, it caught on fire?
What made your keyboard--
I don't know.
All right, well, it sounds like you were playing too fast.
All right, and you're performing today
a song that you wrote, right?
Oh, yes, ma'am.
I am performing "Dreams Are Forever."
And that's my original composition.
All right.
I can't wait for y'all to hear him.
All right, head on over.
Let's get it.
[CROWD CHEERING]
Thank you.
[SOLO PIANO PLAYING]
[CROWD CHEERING]
Thank you.
I mean--
Let's go.
This is fabulous.
I told-- he's incredible.
I think you're incredible.
I know your family could use a little financial help.
My friends at Shutterfly are inspired by what you're doing.
They want to give you a check for $20,000.
[APPLAUSE]
Yo!
We'll be right back.