The Nortons give thanks

For injured Luther College football player Chris Norton, the Thanksgiving holiday was a time to count his blessings.  Chris has been recovering from a football injury that threatened to totally paralyze him.

"I'm thankful for my faith, my family, my friends and the doctors at Mayo Clinic," Chris told decorahnews.com.  He says, "You really appreciate the little things" after a serious injury such as the one he suffered.  That has been the case not just with Chris himself, but with his friends on the Luther football team.  "They're more thankful now," he says of his fellow football players.

Chris has been making steady improvement with each passing day and says he feels "really good right now."  While he still has a lot of work to do, he's hoping he'll be able to return to Luther College for the start of the spring semester in February.

In part that is because of the response from people in Decorah and at Luther College.  We'll discuss the way the community has rallied around him in our final story on Tuesday.