- When you set a goal for yourself,
you find out what your limits are.
You're gonna start thinking outside the box.
- When I'm in this exoskeleton, I don't feel disabled.
I feel, what I call, re-enabled.
It's a pretty incredible feeling.
- He feels a need to get it out there, he's a test pilot.
- You know, in a weird way,
it's kind of a good time to be paralyzed.
- Feet first, right?
- Yeah.
- Let me get the cushion.
- Nah, I got it, I got it.
- Alright.
- Growing up in the Gorlitsky family,
I was just obsessed with sports and athletics.
I grew up playing basketball,
ran track and cross-country in high school.
There was a lot of things that I thought I would be.
When I turned nineteen years old, my entire life did a 180.
(tires screeching)
- We get a phone call,
it was from the clergy at the hospital.
- The day was December 30th, 2005.
My car did a 180 and crashed into the median.
I knew something was wrong with my legs.
I didn't know what paralysis really was.
I just knew that I couldn't move them.
- The doctors told Adam and his family
that he'd never be able to walk again.
- It was pretty devastating.
- They set us down in a room,
three or four victims and their family,
and very nonchalant, "85% of you guys
are gonna be unemployed, overweight, shades down."
I looked at him and I said,
"Boy, that sounds exactly like you."
And that's when we started to laugh.
- You either adapt or you die, right?
Let's see what we get.
Oh, yeah!
(laughs)
(exhales)
- Alright, take a rest a moment,
breathe before you turn red in the face.
- Torture is good.
The first nineteen years of my life,
being able-bodied, I really saw myself as this athlete.
I had to find myself again.
(Exhales) Man.
- Alright so do that at home though.
Take a step past your comfort zone.
- Absolutely, yeah.
In the summer of 2015 I went down for my annual check up
and they said,
"Hey, this exoskeleton's over there collecting dust.
"Do you want to try it out?"
- That exoskeleton was one of 250 in the world.
It's called the Rewalk, and it's designed to help people
like Adam regain mobility and independence.
- Stood up for the first time on my own,
I guess at the time it was ten years.
I just remember thinking,
"I have to walk the 2016 Cooper River Bridge Run using it."
- I looked at him and I went,
"Oh no, he's at it again."
- Adam Gorlitsky a former Wando grad
has been training for the biggest moment of his life.
The 39th Annual Cooper River Bridge Run.
Adam has an opportunity
to become the first complete paraplegic
to complete the 6.2 mile race
with the assistance of an exoskeleton.
- I kind of treated it like I was training
for a track meet again.
And I guess I tapped back into that athletic side of me.
- Alright, I'm standing up.
And sure enough he kept working towards that
and you do whatever you have to do to help him
because we're a team.
- So it took almost seven hours
and exactly this many steps right here, 17,932.
It was absolutely the greatest day in my life.
You know, to have the entire city of Charleston behind me.
It was awesome.
And then ten days later, I am like,
"Oh, crap what do I do now?"
It was like this emotional rollercoaster.
I remember kinda being depressed for a little bit.
There's only so long you can ride on the fact
that you're the first paralyzed man
that walked the Bridge Run right?
- So Adam kept setting new goals for himself.
- I announced that I'll be walking one million steps
wearing my Rewalk robotic exoskeleton.
And then 2018, I walked
the entire Portlandathon half- marathon.
It took almost twenty hours.
I was sleep deprived.
It was brutal.
But I had a big smile on my face.
- Then, all of a sudden, Adam had competition.
- His name is Simon Kindleysides.
He walked the 2018 London Marathon
using his Rewalk exoskelton.
It took him 36 hours and I believe 46 minutes.
I want to beat his record.
I decided to challenge myself to walk
the entire length of the Los Angeles marathon.
That was brutal.
I could only complete 17.2 miles total.
Kinda felt a loser.
- He's very vocal that he's the greatest
exoskeleton walker out there.
- I'm a pretty competitive guy
and it does fuel me and motivate me to train harder
so it's just kinda fun to tap into that.
- Today Adam spends his time working with his nonprofit,
I Got Legs, to help raise awareness
and push mobility technology forward.
He's still working towards his million step goal.
And he's looking ahead to the 2020 Charleston marathon
where he hopes to beat Simon Kindleysides's record.
- I think the best way to sum it up is maybe one word.
It's just the word hope.
There's access to all this amazing technology,
the epidural stimulator, this exoskeleton,
stem cell research,
the future is looking very bright.
- People from all over come up to us
"Oh, you're the inspiration of my life,
"I wouldn't run otherwise."
(cheering)
Hearing thousands of people at the finish line screaming,
(exhales) it's wild stuff.
- It's really about putting one foot in front of the other
and just charging forward.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Superhuman.
If you like this video, please subscribe to our channel
for more Superhuman stories.
And don't forget to visit freethink.com
for more stories of people moving the world.
(crowd cheering)