Man with cerebral palsy to take part in Tommy Bartlett Show
PEWAUKEE (WITI) -- 28-year-old Chad Murphy-Price has cerebral palsy -- but that doesn't slow him down one bit!
Murphy-Price is involved with the Pewaukee Lake Water Ski Club, where he's considered a "tech genius." He coordinates music for the Pewaukee Lake Water Ski Club shows.
Last summer, FOX6 News featured Murphy-Price water skiing with his Pewaukee Lake Water Ski Club cohorts. At that time, Murphy-Price said water skiing allows him to focus on his abilities, rather than his disability.
“I have the same feelings, goals and aspirations as anybody else. ‘Impossible’ is not in my vocabulary. I never take ‘no’ for an answer,” Murphy-Price said.
This summer, Murphy-Price tried out the flyboard!
Flyboarding is a hot, new, extreme water sports toy. It is a combination of wake boarding and water jets. A wave runner forces water through a hose, connected to the board and hand jets that lift the rider 15 feet into the air!
"We deem it as a water-powered jet pack. I'm basically giving Chad a ride, so Chad will be strapped to me, and we're going to go fly it around. This will be the first time we've had anybody with a major disability on it," Jeremy Armstrong with the Tommy Bartlett Show said.
Murphy-Price is an author, motivational speaker and web designer, in addition to the work he does with the Pewaukee Lake Water Ski Club.
"It's a major adrenaline rush for me and it gives me so much joy. I can't express the feeling. I think it's kind of like an out-of-body experience because I am so excited. I think it's about time for people to start focusing on people's abilities rather than their disabilities," Murphy-Price said.
Murphy-Price is the first to admit his success in the water and in his life has been a team effort.
"I have a wonderful support group. They don't see the wheelchair. They just look at me as a person," Murphy-Price said.
"His whole outlook is constantly motivational and he's constantly pushing the envelope. It's a constant experience of, he's always stretching himself and then stretching us," Kurt Roskopf with the Pewaukee Lake Water Ski Club said.
Recently, Murphy-Price performed in a demonstration for a national water ski tournament in Rockford, Illinois. Coincidentally, it was Murphy-Price's 30th birthday!
On August 23rd, he will demonstrate waterboarding with the Tommy Bartlett Water Ski show in the Wisconsin Dells.
"I'm so thankful to the folks who give me the chance to have an adaptive ski demo during their show. It is going to be absolutely wonderful!" Murphy-Price said.
"It was almost a no-brainer when we started skiing with Chad this summer. This is a perfect fit for what we are doing. People are going to love it," Armstrong said.
Anybody who has the pleasure of getting to know Murphy-Price is proud of him. Understandably, no one is prouder than his mother.
"For him now to be the man that he is, he's really special, and for him to say that he wants to inspire other people, that just makes me warm and fuzzy," Chad's mother, Charlotte Price said.
"If I'm inspiring, that's great. I just don't look at it that way. I look at it as this is the way I live my life. I just want to give other people the opportunity to enjoy water sports whether you have a disability or not," Murphy-Price said.