OTTUMWA, Iowa – The motivational speaker had a lot of wisdom to share: How he overcame challenges, found out who he was and learned to accept himself with his good points and bad. And the students seemed to get it. But they also wanted to know how close he and actor Ashton Kutcher are.

“We’re twins … and I consider him my best friend,” said Michael Kutcher, talking to kids Thursday at Ottumwa, Iowa, High School.

Christopher Ashton Kutcher almost grew up without a brother, Mike said. Their mom and her doctor thought she was having a boy. They were surprised when it turned out to be two boys.

Ashton was born first, at 10.5 pounds. Mike referred to his twin as Jabba the Hutt, the slug-like, gigantic “Star Wars” character. A few minutes later, Mike was born. He weighed just 4 pounds and was over-oxygenated.

“The doctor told my parents, ‘You might want to name and baptize him. He may not survive.’ Of course, Jabba the Hutt was fine. I tell people he must have ate everything while we were in the womb.”

When the boys were 3, Mom realized that while Ashton was running around just fine, Mike was not moving the way he should, was lagging behind and just seemed generally “slow.”

Doctors diagnosed him with cerebral palsy.

“For those of you who don’t know what cerebral palsy is, it’s a disability that mostly affects motor function,” Mike said.

His walk is impaired, he said, and so is his speech. He has trouble performing physical tasks with his right side, is 80 percent deaf in his left ear and has had two cataract surgeries.

“My case is considered mild,” he said.

Mike climbed the steps to the stage and walked back and forth during his talk Thursday, and students seemed to understand him just fine. But there are some things he just can’t do well.

When he and his brother were still in elementary school, they were shooting basketball, following each other’s shots. Ashton made a called shot, “Right hand.”

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“Where are you going?” asked Ashton.

“I said, ‘You know I can’t make that shot. It’s not fair.’ And Chris (Ashton) even at that age said, ‘You can do anything you want. I can’t make that shot for you. Mom’s not here; she can’t do it for you. It’s your challenge. Stop using your disability as a crutch. This is your obstacle.'”

Those words stayed with him for the rest of his life; there are obstacles that are his to overcome or not overcome. He tossed that ball using his disabled right hand. Unfortunately, since they were in a real Iowa town, not in a Hollywood script, Mike missed the shot.

“I don’t think I could make that shot today,” he quipped in answer to an Ottumwa student’s question.

But it didn’t matter. The lesson, from a boy his same age, stuck. He’d try. Sometimes, he’d miss. Other times, he’d succeed.

He remembered his brother’s voice when a cardiologist told his family and him at age 13 that Mike’s heart was going to give out in the next three to four weeks. It could take years to get a heart transplant.

“I realized that was my challenge, my obstacle to overcome.”

He faced his impending death – or life – as bravely as possible. Three weeks later, his heart stopped: cardiac arrest. He didn’t learn until later some of the decisions his parents had to make. The options were to say goodbye and let him go or to try a pump that would extend his life by only 48 hours.

They chose to use the pump. A donor heart arrived 24 hours later. Doctors told him the typical life expectancy of someone with a donor heart is seven years. Michael just passed 20 years with his.

Yet after they cracked his chest open, he had to stop trying to keep up with Ashton, the athlete. He did find a sport, though. He likes golf.

“I decided to stop being Ashton’s brother and start being Michael Kutcher.”

It took him years to figure out who that was. His twin, Ashton Kutcher, had that certain something that allowed him to go to New York and become a model, then a well-known actor.

Michael had different aspects to his character. He had spent so much time trying not to use his cerebral palsy as an excuse that when the mother of a severely disabled girl asked him to speak about growing up with cerebral palsy, he said, “What? I don’t have cerebral palsy!”

But there was that little girl with CP who couldn’t walk, couldn’t eat, couldn’t talk. What she could do was wake Michael up. CP may not rule his life, but it is a part of his life. Related Articles MPR fires Eric Malmberg, Current DJ who was under investigation by reporter Marianne Combs

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These days, in addition to his job doing sales for a company in Cedar Rapids and Los Angeles, he speaks to young people about disability awareness, treating each other with dignity and overcoming obstacles.

“I’m not going to lecture you. I’m not going to tell you what kind of person you should be or how you should talk or how you should act,” he told OHS students when he first walked onto the stage. “I’m just going to tell you about my life.”