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  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Thank you.

  • 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.

Darrius, this story it makes me so happy

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