Student Work

Screen shows trees in front of a blue sky.

Screen shows water in a creek.

Screen shows a handcycle.

Tom: It’s always been the way that I’ve kind of shown myself. It just kind of became this addiction of competition, of really pushing my body.

Screen shows Tom climbing into the handcycle and fastening his helmet.

Tom: That was my way of articulating who I am. In that bike — I still remember the first day getting on it and getting into this rhythm and just the toughness of it, the physical demand it takes to ride 10 miles.

Screen shows farmland as he cycles.

Tom: To be able to be in this equipment and reach down and rub your hand through the dirt and feel connected to nature. It’s a freedom. It’s this thing that makes me feel 100 percent whole.

Text reads: a film by Mallorey Daunhauer.

Text reads: Never daunted.

Text reads: In 2012, Tom Morris was in a tragic mountain biking accident that left him paralyzed.

Screen shows closeup of hands chopping vegetables.

Text reads: This is his story.

Is there anything in particular as far as this goes?

Christa, Tom’s wife: They look good, though. Oh, solid-solid.

Screen shows Tom facing the camera.

Tom: The accident is very vivid in my mind. I could still see everything that was happening.

Screen shows outside of the Wapehani Mountain Bike Park trails.

Tom: It was an incredible day.

Screen shows trails and the creek.

Tom: The trails were perfect. I went out and lap one, kind of got warmed up. And each lap progressively got faster. And then by the fourth lap, I was in the throe of this, this, this rhythm in and out of trails. And about a quarter mile before I’d end that ride, I’d go around this sharp 90-degree turn, and then I’d smash a rock.

Screen shows blue sky.

Tom: I opened up my eyes and I’m laying there on the day kind of how what we’re in right now. And looking at this beautiful blue sky. And I had this, I had no pain. And then within seconds, all of a sudden the pain comes back on and it just has my body screaming and screaming.

Screen shows Tom’s wife.

Christa: It was about 10:45, he didn’t respond, 11, he didn’t respond. And then I started to get a little worried. So then I’m texting, texting, calling, calling, and at about 12:15, my phone rang and it was a police officer.

Screen shows a car driving to the hospital.

Chirsta: I went to the entrance of where the ambulance pulls in, and they opened up the back, and I saw Tom.

Screen shows Tom facing the camera.

Tom: When I went through that, the hospital doors in the first person I saw was Christa. And she just looked at me with just this fear in her eyes and just this, I mean, it scared, it scared the crap out of me. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to do. And she came over me and I just said, I’m sorry. I’m, I’m sorry. And then she leaned down and she’s done it a million times. She just kind of just reassured me everything’s going to be all right. And I remember she gave me a little, she gave me a little kiss on the head and the doctors at that point immediately and we’re like, you can’t touch him. You can’t touch him. And I’m still trying to realize even what’s going on. Like, I know this is severe, I know this is bad. But you don’t realize how bad it is at that point.

Screen shows flashing ambulance lights.

Screen shows Christa.

Christa: The doctor came out and said we got a scan, we got his MRI.

Screen shows the MRI scans.

Christa: And I said OK. So I go back and I was standing with Tom, and at that point, the surgeon is like, “Tom, these are your scans,” and she started to break down and her voice starts cracking.

Screen shows Christa facing the camera.

Christa: And then I’m looking at Tom. He’s looking at me. She said you broke your neck. What does it mean when you break your C5- C6?

Screen shows a medical document elucidating what results from broken necks.

Christa: Oh, you don’t have hands? Oh, you don’t have the use of your legs. And that’s when somewhat reality started to set in a little bit of, “Oh my gosh, like this just happened to Tom.

Screen shows archival photos of Tom and Christa at sporting events.

Christa: This just happened to the person that loves life more than anybody I have ever met.”

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Tom: It just hit me and it hit me so hard because I realized at that point it wasn’t about walking, it wasn’t about any of these things. It was about the fact that I literally had no independence. Everything in my life that I wanted to do was going to be dependent on somebody else.

Screen shows a photo of Tom in the hospital.

Tom: That was the moment, that was the feeling of just complete rock bottom.

Screen shows Tom facing the camera.

Tom: One quote that I’ve heard before, and I didn’t understand it at the point, but it was called that J.K. Rowling said, and she, you know, she said before she wrote the Harry Potter books, she said, rock-bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. And for some reason it just it was in my head that night. I thought, yeah, this is, this is it. You got to see see adversity as an opportunity.

Screen shows a photo of Tom rehabbing.

Tom: You gotta see this rock bottom is where you’re going to start all over. And I made it a choice at that point of, you can’t be, this can’t be the defining moment. This situation is not going to define you.

Screen shows video of Tom rehabbing.

Tom: This environment isn’t going to define you. And you’re going to work and you’re just going to work every day and control it.

Screen shows Christa facing camera.

Christa: His accident happened, and I hated biking. I mean, I remember calling my brother and his brother and I’m like, come get these bikes. I don’t want any of them. I don’t want them in the house. I want nothing with biking in my house. Like I just want it out.

Screen shows Tom on the handcycle.

Christa: The moment that they introduce the hand cycle, I remember I was so mad. I was like he’s not getting back on the hand cycle.

Screen shows Christa facing camera.

Christa: Are people crazy? He’s not getting back on a bike. No. And then when he got back on the bike and I saw Tom happy, a different happy that I haven’t seen since his accident, I was like, here we go. We’re back on the bike.

Screen shows group cycling and handcycling.

Tom: For me, cycling is kind of, maybe it’s a catalyst, but maybe it’s more just the fact that for recovery, for everything, I knew that it wasn’t going to happen just by mistake. I knew that this recovery wasn’t just going to happen.

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Tom: It was going to happen because I’ve gone through the process and continually kept getting better each and every day.

Screen shows Christa.

Christa: I think the bike kind of defines who Tom is. That person that loves to push himself and loves to be something better than what he thinks he can be.

Screen shows Tom cycling.

Christa: The bike is a piece of him. The bike allows him to create freedom in a way that he can’t get it in any other way. I, in a sense, feel like it’s Tom’s legs, it’s his wings, and his way to get out and be who he was before the accident.

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Tom: So the cycling community, especially in our town Bloomington. It’s huge and it always has been.

Screen shows Tom handcycling with other cyclists.

Tom: So when the accident happened, that same community that was there to compete against and to ride, literally embraced and they, they they put their arms around both Christa and I. And that cycling community became kind of a family member to us in itself.

Screen shows interview with Lanie Deppe, coworker, cyclist, friend.

Lanie: Back in 2004, 2005, I was a student- athlete here and he came in as a strength coach. He’s been a mentor, he’s been a friend, he’s been my boss, he’s been a colleague at one point. I mean, every aspect he’s kinda been there.

Screen shows Tom in the gym.

Lanie: I remember the day he came back from rehab. We were taking care of his teams while he was gone. And we’re kind of sitting there as a staff, being like what’s it going to be like, what’s he going to be able to do, what’s he going to feel comfortable with.

Screen shows Lanie facing the camera.

Lanie: And he came in that first day, and we’re like Tom, do you want us to do maybe the lift part so we can demo and you do the conditioning, what do — And he’s like give me my teams. No, I want I want my teams.

Screen shows Tom training the soccer team.

Lanie: I want to train them. He had changed his coaching. The words that he used, The way that he made you feel that you’re supposed to feel without actually demoing it, or being right in there with you. I was blown away.

Tom: It just became this profession, this job that I don’t feel like I’ve worked at a day in my life. We go all the way to the top.

Screen shows Tom leading athletes from a wheelchair. Tom: You’ll be beyond the two minute on those four. Good luck to you. It’s all about understanding who they are. It’s, it’s understanding who they are not from a superficial layer, but from but from a really deep caring level.

Lanie: When athletes are around him, I mean, he does, he’s not, he’s not a yeller. He doesn’t sit there and swear, he’s not that type of coach at all, but those kids will run through a wall for him. You can’t help but follow him, you can’t help but to hang on to every word that he has to say.

Screen shows Christa, Tom and their dog, Dex.

Tom: Come on, Dex!

Tom: I think if you have the opportunity to have a voice and you can help others that maybe don’t have that same voice, but are in that same situation.

Screen shows Tom giving a course on resilience.

Tom: You need to speak up. I’m just so fortunate to have a platform of the Indiana University, to have a great team that’s around me.

Screen shows Tom facing the camera.

Tom: And I see it as a responsibility. I have a story that I’m proud of. I’m proud of what Christa, I have been able to do. Proud of what, you know from work to just the way we live. Really, really proud of that. And, and, and I think that story needs to be told to hopefully help others.

Screen shows Christa facing camera.

Christa: I think creating awareness is so important because some people are just angry and they don’t understand how nasty words can be or their actions. These are handicapped piece of equipment.

Screen shows video of two people on the trail reprimanding Tom.

Man: And show me the rule saying that you’re allowed to do this? Are you serious? Who are you? Come on, buddy. You’re breaking the rules that the park

Tom: It’s a handicapped piece of equipment, I can’t walk. I said it. Is this your husband? Class act, brother. I know you’re to be there.

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Tom: When I left that situation, I was fine with it. I thought there was there was ignorant people, but that’s that’s not my, I can’t change that. I don’t want to, you know, that is what it is. Knowing the power of social media and understanding what it is. I didn’t want to ever do anything to hurt anybody and I don’t wanna I don’t wanna be I don’t, I don’t want to hurt anybody with it.

Screen shows Eli Taylor, a hand-cyclist and friend.

Tom: But then on the same thing, I have this little little, this little guy that I’ve just gotten to know in town here. And I kept thinking in my head of what if he’s out on that trail. Like, what if that was him? Just out there in his early stages trying to figure out this world, try to be able to be part of it. But you, you have a, you have to do it in a little bit different of a manner.

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Tom: And what if he had to go through that experience, what if his family did. And at that point, that was when I just realized the power, being an advocate and being able to have a voice to not allow that to happen, to just say, that’s not right. You you can’t do that. You can’t talk to people that way. You just can’t do that.

Screen shows Tom giving a lecture.

Tom: My life is fueled by one thing and that’s the word “can.” I believe can is the best and single most powerful word you can ever use. Can is an igniter, it’s a primer, and it’s a reason why we could do anything. It allows hope and allows us to wake up in the morning and start the day, making today better than yesterday.

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Tom: So right now we’re working with the Steadfast Foundation to start Project Can, where the goal of this is to get accessible equipment for people to be able to get out and enjoy what everybody else can.

Screen shows text reading: Can project presented by Tom’s Team and Steadfast Foundation.

Tom: The impact it’ll make on people’s lives and not just the people that are in, that have disabilities, or have some kind of mobility challenge.

Screen shows Tom on the handcycle walking his dog.

Tom: When, when those people are able to get out into this world and enjoy, it’s going to make the big picture of stuff so much better.

Screen shows Tom facing camera.

Screen shows Tom riding into a field with the sunset in the background.

Tom: Wheelchair-wise or not, this has been the mindset of continually getting better each and every day. Every day, every project I worked on, every day that I live, it’s literally to make today better than yesterday and if you’re granted tomorrow, make that day better than what you got right now.

Text: by Mallorey Daunhauer

Featuring: Tom Morris, Christa Sist-Morries, Lanie Deppe, Dave O’Guinn, Eli Taylor

Music: “Slow Hammers” by The Mini Vandals, “Seclusion” by The Tides, “Checkmate” by Nathan Moore, “After All” by Geographer, “Dusk” by DivKid.

Special thanks: Archival footage courtesy of Tom and Christa Sis-Morris, Krista and Neal Daunhauer, IU men’s soccer team, Ryan Taylor