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Sometimes, motivation can be found in the most unlikely of places. That is true for 17-year-old Brownsboro Hardware & Paint employee Wyatt Anderson.
In November 2025, Wyatt suffered a basketball injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down, requiring spinal fusion surgery and months of extensive rehabilitation. Once he regained strength, Wyatt returned to his job at Brownsboro Hardware & Paint. He also set the goal of completing a marathon within a year, a feat his brother, Jack, took on with him. Less than a year later, Wyatt completed the Chicago Marathon in 3 hours, 56 minutes and 28 seconds, alongside Jack.
“Nothing is impossible,” Wyatt said. “We can do anything if you set your mind to it.”
Wyatt and Jack have raised over $25,000 for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, an organization dedicated to spinal cord injury research and improving quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. Brownsboro Hardware & Paint joined in the mission with its own fundraising initiatives. During a July promotion, the store donated $25 from every grill sold to his fundraising campaign, totaling $1,000. Wyatt and his friends raised another $2,800 through a cookout at the store. That combined $3,800 contributed to the brothers’ growing fundraising total for the foundation.
“Wyatt’s recovery has been nothing short of amazing,” says Brownsboro Hardware & Paint owner Doug Carroll. “He called me right after he got out of the hospital and asked when he could come back to work. He’s worked for us all four years of his high school career and is a fantastic worker and great person,” Carroll said. “We could not be more proud of him.”
