When Cody was born, doctors told his parents that he wouldn’t make it through the night. Cody did survive, but he was diagnosed with an incurable disease that would ultimate take his legs and leave him unable to speak. At fifteen-months-old, both of Cody’s legs were amputated and three months later, he was fitted for his first pair of prosthetic legs. Despite what all the doctors said, Cody took well to his prosthetic legs, even getting a pair of running legs for him to exercise in, and could speak perfectly despite only having one vocal chord. Oprah caught up with Cody eight years after she had him on her show – wait until you see what he’s doing now.

At fifteen months, Cody was already defying expectations. He walked in his first pair of prosthetic and learned to talk. At age eight, Cody had taken up running and swimming, and love to flaunt the fact that he different from everybody else.

Oprah flashes back to the first time she met Cody, when he came on her show in 2008. It is truly touching to watch!

Cody comes bounding on set, so excited to meet Oprah, and the studio audience is all on their feet to applaud for this courageous little boy. He even shows Oprah how he can bounce on his running legs!

Flash forward to 2016, eight years after Cody came on Oprah as an enthusiastic young boy. And at 14, Cody is still defying everyone’s expectations of what he can and can’t do.

In his teens, Cody has taken up swimming as more of a passion than track and field. He’s even training for the Paralympic trials and had Michael Phelps come to one of his swim meets.

Although he’s driven, Cody still struggles with his rare disease; he’s had about 24 surgeries in the last eight years. But despite his daily struggles, Cody still trains hard, has an optimistic outlook on life, and works towards his dream of one day becoming an anesthesiologist.