After suffering a severe spinal injury when a soccer ball hit him in the back, The Voice Australia’s Christian Ellis was told he was never going to walk again.
Christian had been training with Olympic gold medallists to be a sprinter before his whole life flipped upside down. But it was his mental strength, along with the support of his family, that helped him defy all odds and walk again.
“I knew that I wasn’t every going to stop until I started walking again,” Christian tells TV WEEK. “My family wouldn’t have let me give up either.
Backstage at The Voice with dad Paul, mum Kathy and partner Maddi.
(Image: Supplied)“There were times where I thought that I should just get used to this life, but I always had that feeling that I was going to get through it.”
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The 20-year-old spent weeks at a time in and out of hospital, as well as two years in a wheelchair due to the accident. He even had to undergo an incredibly risky spinal surgery and endure intensive rehabilitation.
“It was open surgery on my spinal cord and there was a doctor telling me that if something was to go wrong during it that I would not just be paralysed but quadriplegic for the rest of my life,” Christian reveals.
The Voice coaches Jason Derulo and Jessica Mauboy are all ears for Christian Ellis.
(Image: Supplied)“That was scary, but it had to be done because I wasn’t going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.”
It wasn’t until one moment at home alone that his life changed forever.
“I was just laying down and I got up and I thought, ‘I’m just going to walk’ and I did,” Christian says.
“There’s no better feeling after hearing people say, ‘You’ll never do it again’. I was in tears.”
The Voice’s Christian Ellis was left paralysed after a tragic accident.
(Image: Supplied)Now, it is music and sheer determination which has brought Christian to The Voice stage.
“If it weren’t for the accident, I wouldn’t have picked my guitar up again and started singing and I wouldn’t be on The Voice,” Christian says. “I wouldn’t be where I am today so I wouldn’t take it back.”
He may have overcome adversity, but does Christian have what it takes to turn the coaches’ chairs this week like Jason Derulo?
Catch The Voice Australia Monday and Tuesday on 7.30pm, and Sunday, 7pm on Channel Seven.
