A man told he would never walk again has been hailed by a “real-life Rocky” after scaling the 72 famous steps from the blockbuster flick. Sylvester Stallone said Chase Friedman's spirit was "incredible" after defied the devastating diagnosis.
Chase was seriously injured in a freak accident after a New Year’s Eve party in 2021. Going to brush his teeth the morning after, he slipped in the bathroom, crashed headfirst into the sink and lost all feeling below his shoulders.
An MRI scan revealed he had injured his spinal cord from the C4 to C7 cervical vertebrae – near the top of his spine. And the former talent manager from Los Angeles, California, was warned he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
"It was terrifying, but there was a lot of uncertainty as well. So I clung on to that," said the 26-year-old.
"The doctors said they didn’t know if I’d walk again, but to me it meant they didn’t know I couldn’t. I didn’t want to just be a head for the rest of my life."
Against all odds, after spending four months in intensive physiotherapy, Chase achieved his mammoth goal. And 21 months after the accident, he can walk “like normal” and even hopes to run a 5k race.
“I set myself three goals – I wanted to be able to flip someone off with my middle finger, I wanted to walk up the Rocky steps at the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and I wanted to kick my mate in the balls," he said. “And in four months I was able to do all three – which was the most amazing feeling.
"Because no one believed I could, except for me. Sylvester Stallone even called me a real-life Rocky on his Instagram.”
Chase recalled the moment he woke up in hospital and couldn't move his body. “I couldn’t feel anything in my skin, but weirdly enough I could feel a sensation in my muscles underneath," he said.
The following day, he underwent an eight-hour spinal fusion surgery which involved putting 10 screws into his neck in a bid to stabilise his back. But while the first 36 hours in hospital were “pure fear” for Chase, he immediately focused on getting better.
He said: “I stayed incredibly positive, and felt lucky to be alive. “I wanted to get my body to be the best it could possibly be.”
After two weeks he was moved to a specialist centre for spinal cord injuries, where he began a rigorous rehabilitation. But the future still looked difficult for Chase.
And he began looking at electric wheelchairs as medics still didn’t believe he would be able to walk. Each day Chase would try to lift his leg, aided by a harness that strapped him to the ceiling.
He would either try to move his legs or have a physiotherapist move his legs to remind the body of what it’s like to walk. By the end of February he was able to walk a couple of steps unaided for the first time.
He set himself the goal to climb up the 72 steps made famous from the Rocky films. And on March 20 he did it.
Chase said: “I walked up all of them and it was the most incredible experience of my life. When I got to the top, I felt like I had completed a challenge everyone thought was impossible except for me. But I knew in my heart I was going to be able to do it.”
Posting his recovery on TikTok, where he has amassed 350K followers, Chase’s lighthearted approach to his tragic situation went viral amassing millions of views. His videos made it to various social media channels, eventually being seen by Arnold Schwarzenegger who then showed his mate Sylvester.
An impressed Sylvester posted on Instagram: “This young man's spirit is incredible! This is a real life Rocky… keep punching and running!”
Chase was also able to complete his final goal – kick his best pal Dan Sipher, 26, in the whatsits. Chase said: “My friend had joked that I needed to get well so I could kick him in the balls, but I don’t think he expected me to recover so quickly.”
In November 2021, Chase returned to work but has since quit his job as he realised that sitting down for nine hours a day was limiting his progress. After going to the Coachella music festival in California in April 2022, where he took 20,000 steps to cover a staggering seven miles each day, he believes he can still achieve more.
And he has now set his sights on jogging and then running a 5k race. He said: “I have been walking five miles a day and I’m improving every day and my walk is almost perfect.
“Most people can’t even tell from my walk that I went through this. I am grateful every day of all the progress, and I feel so lucky.”
He added: “This journey has been incredibly difficult, but I know my story has reached a lot of people and I feel grateful that I have been able to help many people in similar situations." You can follow Chase’s journey on TikTok @chasegetsbetter or Instagram @chaseunfiltered.
