How Porter Ellett Lost Use of His Arm at 4 Years Old — and Now Is Patrick Mahomes Warm-Up Partner on the Chiefs (Exclusive)

The Kansas City Chiefs coach shares his resilient story of tragedy-turned-triumph alongside his wife Carlie, as they hope to inspire others to overcome challenges of their own

This football coach transformed a loss into a win.

Meet Porter Ellett, assistant running back coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, who's won three Super Bowl titles with the team since joining the staff as Andy Reid's right-hand man eight seasons ago.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Ellett reflected on the triumphant trajectory his life has taken since losing the use of his right arm at age 4 to becoming a valuable member of the franchise that's currently in pursuit of clinching its third consecutive NFL championship victory.

Ellett vividly remembers the conversation he had with Reid upon being offered the assistant position at age 27. "He was like, 'Hey, you'll be my right hand man,' " he recalls Reid saying — to which Ellett replied, "'As long as you're okay with your right-hand man not having a right hand!' "

To this day, Ellett believes, in part, that's what solidified Reid's decision to hire him. "I think he loved that," he says of his quip. "I always joke. I'm like, 'My life wouldn't make a good movie or book because it's too far fetched. No one would believe it.' "

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Ellett, now based in Kansas City and married to his wife Carlie with three kids, is a Utah native who grew up on a farm. He developed a hard working ethic by helping his father with various tasks on the range at a very young age.

"I would go with my dad to help him move sheep out on the mountain," he explains, a chore that ultimately changed his life forever when he was 4 years old.

"One day we were going out there... I wanted to be in the back of the truck," says Ellett, who then proceeded to sit atop of a four wheeler upon his dad's approval since there were other kids in the rear. "Then we hit a bump and I fell out of the back of the truck."

"I hit my head super hard and fractured my skull, scalped me and partially severed an artery. All these things. Bad stuff," he explains. "My dad picked me up from the injury... He had to take my scalp and put it back on my head."

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Ellett was told his father and a family friend prayed over him on the scene, where he ultimately gained consciousness and was able to talk. "A miracle really," says Ellett, who was then airlifted to Salt Lake City for several surgeries before realizing his "right arm wasn't moving."

The doctors treated Ellett's head injury, but after various tests, they learned that he "severed the nerves" in his spine which controlled and gave him feeling in his right arm. Despite the medical efforts, it could not be fixed.

"My earliest memories after the accident were just feeling injured," Ellett says, looking back at his days in the hospital. "I remember walking by one of the windows and seeing kids outside playing basketball. I remember thinking, 'This isn't fair. It's not cool. I'm supposed to be out there doing what they're doing.' "

With a resilient mindset early on, Ellett did just that ... and more. He mastered daily tasks like tying his shoe with one arm, played multiple sports in high school — and one decade later, became Patrick Mahomes' go-to warm-up partner on the Kansas City Chiefs.

"My love and passion for those things overrode my discouragement ... I have always made the choice to push through it," says Ellett of his thought process right after the accident, eventually making the personal choice to have his right arm fully amputated at age 16.

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Basketball and baseball were Ellett's sports of choice in high school, admitting that football "wasn't really on [his] radar" until he worked in the equipment room while attending Brigham Young University (BYU). There, he "fell in love" with the "strategy of the game" and the "team" aspect of the sport.

At BYU, Ellett would also fall in love with Carlie, who would later become his wife and mother of their three kids (in fact, they named their eldest son Brigham after their alma mater!). Ellett cites Carlie with helping him achieve his passion to pursue a career in football professionally.

"I just fell in love with that whole thing and then I told Carlie football is what I need to do — and to her credit, she didn't just roll her eyes," he recalls. "She was like, 'No, we can do this. What do we got to do to be able to do it?' "

Carlie tells PEOPLE that "coaching was the goal and the dream" for Ellett growing up, but they thought perhaps at a high school — or if they "got lucky," maybe college. She says landing "this kind of a break" at the NFL "was a big time blessing."

But going on eight seasons with the Chiefs, Carlie knows why. "People are just drawn to him," she says. "He's got a great smile, which I think makes people feel comfortable around him. And he knows how to relate to everybody. I don't know how he does it."

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One of those people who found a near-instantaneous connection with Ellett was quarterback Mahomes, who's worked with him since being selected by the Chiefs in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

"It was Porter's job to warm up Patrick," Carlie explains of Ellett's task, among others, as Reid's assistant at the start of his coaching career. Mahomes spent his rookie season as the backup to Alex Smith, who was then traded to the Washington Redskins.

"The very next season Patrick became the starter, but he still had Porter warm him up because he's not messing with his routine," Carlie continues of the "tradition that has now continued into its eighth season."

Of his quarterback duty, Ellett explains, "You don't want to mess with anything that works, especially in the world of sports where you want your head right, your mental right, along with your body." He adds, "I help guys stay in the right mental space."

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Ellett's display of resiliency is an inspiration both on and off the field, whether a player on the Chiefs of not. "He has every excuse in the world to play the victim card and he just doesn't," says Carlie, who also shares glimpses of her NFL family's life on TikTok, including Ellett's tosses with Mahomes.

"Things are a little bit harder and a little bit different for him, but he's got no problem overcoming it," she continues. "It's been a really good example, I think, for kids who identify with Porter because there's not a lot of people who have disabilities at the professional sports level."

Carlie shared a memory that gives her "chills" at the thought, recalling the time she and her kids were in an elevator at Arrowhead Stadium with a young man sitting in a wheelchair wearing a homemade Chiefs jersey with the logo hand-drawn on the shirt.

"It wasn't until he exited the elevator that I realized he had written a name on the back of his homemade jersey. It was 'Coach Ellett' written on the back," she says. "There are hundreds of kids in the stadium with Kelce, Mahomes and Jones on the back of their jerseys, and rightfully so because they can see themselves in those players."

"The kids who have a disability or a limb loss like Porter, they don't see themselves necessarily in anybody else on the field," Carlie continues. "So that's when it finally hit me. Porter has an impact to a unique community."

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The encounter with the young boy two seasons ago was a heartwarming surprise for Carlie, but the result of an example that Ellett strives to be for others every day. "I just hope that people pull the positives away from my story or my experiences and then they use them in their own life," he says.

"You go through some dark times. It's rough. The world's tough, man," Ellett continues. "If you can just find light anywhere, just chase it. Try to get through it, together."

Even for Ellett, himself, the triumphant trajectory of his life story seems unimaginable when thinking about what his 4-year-old self would think if he knew where he'd end up. "I think he'd be completely shocked," he says.

"I also think he'd be like, 'That's sick. That's awesome! I can't believe I did that.' "

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