ORLANDO, Fla. — Crossfit athletes David Kellam and CJ Bellamy share more than a friendship.

• David Kellam, CJ Bellamy have been friends since middle school
• They incurred spinal cord injuries and now get around in wheelchair
• Former athletes, they now they train in adaptive Crossfit program

Friends since middle school, the two work out regularly — with a sense of humor to boot — at South Orange Crossfit.

"It's been a loooooong, like, a long time," Kellam says. "We're old now — just kidding!"

They've also both overcome separate but transformative incidents that have them paralyzed.

In 2006, Bellamy, then a high school basketball player, was "out one night, hanging out with friends like we usually do, someone decides to start shooting at us," he said.

"Wrong place, wrong time... That was definitely the beginning of a life-changing event for me."

In college, Kellam crashed on a motorcycle.

"I don't remember too much from there," he said. "I blacked out, I woke up in an ambulance."

But the incidents haven't sidelined their competitive spirit. 

South Orange Crossfit co-owner Robert Zambrana helped start its Adaptive Athletes program.

"Everyone has different goals, so why not help each other? This is the place for it," he said. "I remember C.J., he was very curious... Can he do this workout, can he do that? And I told him, 'You can. If you're a basketball player, you can do it. We just gotta help you.' "

Kellam has a message for those who are grappling with adversity.

"We want to reach everybody and tell them (to) reach out to different outlets. ... It's not the end of your life, because you still can do a lot of things," Kellam said.

"People say, 'You can't do this', 'You can't do that,' (but) that's only negative people that hold your stuff back," Zambrana said.

Extra: How program got started

When patients have a spinal cord injury, are hospitalized, and finish rehab, they don't always have an exercise program to continue with after that. So Orlando Health saw that as a need in the community. Physical therapist Erin Jones says most gyms may not be wheelchair-accessible, don’t have the right equipment for someone in a wheelchair or who has limited hand function, or are simply unaffordable. 

Orlando Health applied for a grant through The Nielsen Foundation, which provided funds to cover the equipment costs, adaptive training and memberships for a year for the participants. Jones speaks with us about how the South Orlando Crossfit Adaptive Athletes program got started: