Today on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Ellen welcomed 19-year-old pianist Darrius Simmons from Warren, OH. Darrius opened up about being born with four fingers and having both his legs amputated soon after he was born.  

"People like you just are so inspirational to the world first of all and you're an amazing piano player," said Ellen.

The 19-year-old shares he wouldn’t change anything about himself and embraces his differences.

"This is all I've known, I didn't have an accident or nothing to make me have a birth defect or a disability or nothing like this is all I've known so like three fingers, one finger here, two legs here, it's normal to me, and I actually love it about myself because I'm able to connect with people on such a deeper level like with you all today," Darrius said.

Darrius talks about his passion for football and how being rejected from his high school football team led him to the piano.

"My first passion and love was football that was like my number one dream growing up as a kid and when I went as my freshman year that kind of was like my first I guess you could say reality shock to know that when the football coach told me I couldn't play, it was kind of like OK now its time to start thinking of plan B and I used all of the emotions that I was feeling from being told no and put it into the piano and I just blossomed from there."

Ellen also surprised him with a $20,000 check from Shutterfly to help his family financially.

Darrius is currently studying music on a full-ride scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Watch the full interview and a performance of Darrius' original composition, “Dreams Are Forever."