SEATTLE _ When he was four years old, Chris Carson fell down the stairs in his house.
Then he got up and walked away like nothing happened.
Symbolically, at least, the Seahawks' second-year running back has been climbing and falling ever since. When he was in elementary school, Carson was diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), a chronic condition that makes it difficult to pay attention or control impulsive behaviors.
"I was hyper," Carson said last week, sitting on the floor in front of his locker. "I was always trying to do something. I couldn't sit still when I was young."
Carson's parents took him on a parade of doctor's appointments. He tried out medications aimed at reducing and managing his symptoms.
In the end, the cure _ if you want to call it that _ was Carson.
"Football helped," Carson's step-father, Dorian Rowe, told The Seattle Times last week. "It gave him something to focus on _ a little extra something to strive for.
"I don't know whether it was prayer or what, but he was able to master it and get it under control."
Today, Carson says ADHD is no longer an issue. Just like in the season opener against Denver on Sept. 9, he encountered an obstacle, then hurdled it.
"He knew that he had to focus," Rowe said. "My other kids, they could have the TV going, the radio going and dogs barking and they could do four or five things at one time. When he was studying he had to just study. That's what he learned to do."
As the Seahawks prepare to host the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday, Carson is still learning. He's still climbing and falling. That was true to a lesser extent last Monday, when the second-year running back received six carries early in a 24-17 loss to the Chicago Bears, but was inexplicably held out for the entire second half.
This was simply the latest entry in Carson's dizzying list of setbacks.
When he was a senior at Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview High School in 2012, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound athlete racked up 1,146 rushing yards and 18 total touchdowns, before his season abruptly ended because of a torn ACL.
Before the injury, Carson was expecting to receive and accept a scholarship offer from the in-state Georgia Bulldogs.
After the injury? His options quickly eroded. College coaches stopped calling back.
"You're getting the letters and the calls and mom and I are getting in the car and driving him to different schools," Rowe said. "Some weekends it was three schools in one weekend in three different states. Then all of a sudden you don't hear from anyone."
Carson's stock plummeted, and his grades suffered. Eventually, he accepted a spot at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan.
Population: 13,000. Enrollment: 8,365. Nearest major metropolis: Kansas City, 170 miles away.
Carson's path to Division I football took an unexpected detour.
But it wasn't the end of the road.
"He had a couple physical therapy sessions after the knee (injury), and a few weeks later I'm sitting there and I wanted to see something that would tell me that he was back to being Chris or he was going to be OK," Rowe said. "I went to the window one day and I saw him standing out in front of the garage where the basketball goal was, and he was just standing underneath it. He was going to test himself.
"Sure enough, he jumped from standing still under the basket and dunked with both hands. I'm sitting there, gritting my teeth, waiting to see what happens when he comes down. No problem.
"He hadn't given up, even though some other people gave up on him. Maybe a couple coaches or other friends gave up on him, but he never gave up."
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