The odds have never meant much to Fergus Farrell.

In 2018, the Irishman was given a 5% likelihood of ever strolling again after a office harm left him paralyzed from the ribcage down.

Nearly six years later, after a grueling restoration, he’s hitting the open street for a 3,000-mile trek across the US — fully on foot.

“If anybody tells me I can’t do something, by God, I’ll do my damndest to do it,” Farrell, 46, advised The Post. “It’s all about taking a small step at a time.”

Fergus Farrell kicked off a cross-country journey by foot at the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, August 22, 2026, in New York, NY. (Stephen Yang) Stephen Yang for NY Post

And Farrell has already taken loads. On the first anniversary of the accident, the Galway native walked across Ireland, ending his journey at the hospital he’d been advised he’d seemingly never transfer his legs again.

In the years since, Farrell has rowed seven marathons, run 4 ultramarathons and even tried to paddle across the Atlantic Ocean in 2022.

Now, the father of three is taking on his largest feat yet: Six million steps from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Santa Monica Pier in just 75 days.

“When I walk across America, it’s to create awareness for people living with spinal cord injuries, but it’s also for my kids,” said Farrell, who kicked off his mission Saturday. “I want to show them that when you get up and work hard, you can do whatever you want.”

‘Very, very unlucky’

Farrell was overseeing his fleet of 35 buses on Oct. 26, 2018, when he bent down to raise a metallic bench and felt a “massive explosion” in his back, dropping him to the floor in ache.

He quickly realized he couldn’t really feel his legs, and later realized that he had ruptured two discs in his back — one of which had practically severed his spinal twine fully.

He was airlifted across Ireland to the National Spinal Unit in Dublin, where medical doctors operated instantly. But when he woke up, he said, “I still couldn’t connect to my feet.”

Farrell was left paralyzed from the ribcage down after a office harm. Courtesy of Fergus Farrell

The ache was excruciating. Any feeling from the ribcage down was “completely gone.” Then the surgeon sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Fergus, but you’ve been very, very unlucky,” Farrell recalled him saying.

The physician then gave him a stark prognosis: “If you get moving within the next 72 hours, you have a 5% chance of getting some sort of strength back. However, if you don’t get movement after 72 hours, your stats go down to zero. You’ll be wheelchair-bound for life.”

Farrell fights back

For weeks, Farrell still couldn’t budge. Then, on the twenty first day after the accident, came a breakthrough: a tiny twitch in his toe.

Ferrell skilled for months at a rehabilitation middle, decided to get better. Courtesy of Fergus Farrell

Over time, he regained his skill to stroll unassisted. Courtesy of Fergus Farrell

“That was a massive moment for me,” he said.

He was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, where he spent months pushing his physique to its limits, always in ache and utilizing morphine to get a bit of sleep. But he started to enhance: Little by little, motion returned.

“It was either live a life in pain and be myself, or live a life where I don’t know who I am.”Fergus Farrell

Months after arriving, Farrell could shuffle on two ft, but his skill to stroll remained restricted. When medical workers sat him down to talk about being discharged, they expect him to use a wheelchair in public and have restricted mobility at residence, aided by seize rails.

“That’s bulls–t,” he remembers considering.

He went through a darkish time during restoration before a week in a psychiatric ward despatched him on his present path. Stephen Yang for NY Post

“I said, ‘I’m walking out through those doors.’ I gave myself three weeks,” Farrell said. “During those three weeks, I broke myself, but I broke myself in a great way. I was there to do a job.”

Less than a month later, he left on his own two ft.

From all-time low to redemption

Once he returned to Galway, though, he began to really feel like a “prisoner” in his own residence, restricted to a wheelchair and struggling to navigate the world. His marriage was unraveling, too.

“Have you ever heard that saying, “The empty mind is a dangerous mind?” he said. “When I got home, I was seeing all the negatives rather than the positives.”

He practically ended his life, saved only by the grace of a “good friend.” He spent a week in a psychiatric ward.

“It was the best thing I ever did,” Farrell said. “I found out, for the first time at 39 years of age, who I was, not what I was.”

Fergus Farrell, who was advised he would never stroll again, is trekking the United States. Farrell plans to start his stroll on August 22 on the Brooklyn Bridge and arrive in Santa Monica around November 5. Nearly 6 years after the accident, Farrell has run marathons and walked across Ireland. Courtesy of Fergus Farrell

That individual? One who excelled in the face of a problem.

It was then that Farrell, who couldn’t stroll more than 300 meters at the time, began coaching to stroll 206 kilometers (128 miles) across Ireland on the first anniversary of his exit from the rehabilitation hospital. Around the same time, he began weaning himself off of morphine, which he’d become addicted to while managing the ache.

“I had to,” he said. “It was either live a life in pain and be myself, or live a life where I don’t know who I am.”

Next cease: America

Today, Farrell is an inspirational speaker, psychological well being advocate and devoted father. He’s taken on athletic challenges that would take a look at even the fittest individual — all while residing with “24/7 nerve pain.”

“I still have a lot of disabilities. I don’t have any reaction skills. I have very poor balance,” he said.

Farrell will try to cowl roughly 80,000 steps per day. (Stephen Yang) Stephen Yang for NY Post

But he no longer seems at Oct. 26, 2018, as the day his life fell aside.

“If you would have asked me two years after the accident what I thought of it, I would have told you it was one of the worst days of my life,” he said. “Now, if you ask me, it was the best day of my life, because I’m a lot better of a person than I ever was,” he continued. “I value everything I have rather than being envious of what I don’t.”

That outlook is fueling his largest problem yet.

For the previous 18 months, he’s has been coaching for Fergus Walks, a cross-country trek aimed at elevating consciousness of spinal accidents and cash for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Spinal Injuries Ireland.

Farrell’s route will take him through 11 states over 75 days by foot. (Stephen Yang) Stephen Yang for NY Post

Farrell will cross 11 states, slogging through mountains, deserts, prairies and farmland while racking up roughly 80,000 steps a day. But the grueling miles aren’t what he’s most excited about — it’s the Americans he’ll meet alongside the means.

“Maybe they’ll come have a walk along the road with me,” he said. “I hope they do.”

A crew of volunteers will observe Farrell by automotive, conserving him equipped with meals and water as he makes his means across the nation. He’ll largely bunk in resorts, though in more distant stretches, he’ll camp in a van.

By the time he reaches the West coast, he expects to have burned through eight pairs of sneakers.

Farrell’s message to others is easy: “Anyone who’s fighting addiction, disability, whatever it may be, just take a small step at a time.”

“All those small steps add up,” he said. “The next thing you know, you’re in a place that you could have never imagined.”