“My old man chose to bury me in a shoebox,” he told the crowd at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, where he was the guest speaker at the first instalment of the new Inspire series.

The series of free talks to regional audiences is being presented by employment and training organisation VERTO.

Mr Coutis, born with a backbone that stops at the base of his ribs and legs twisted so that his feet met in the middle (he later had his legs amputated and now gets around on a skateboard), was so small in those first days that he could fit in the palm of a hand.

Doctors told his parents he wouldn’t live past his first 24 hours, then his first week and, later, his first birthday.

“And 48 birthdays later, I’m here in beautiful Bathurst with you guys and you know where those doctors are? Dead!” he said to stunned laughter.

In detailing the no-nonsense love he got at home, the breathtakingly bad bullying he endured at school and the lessons he learnt from those with even bigger challenges to face than himself, Mr Coutis returned again and again to some central themes.

One was to be resilient and keep getting back up no matter how many times someone puts you down, another was to treat people in the same way you would want to be treated and a third was the incredible value of life.

“No matter how bad you think you are, how bad you think your life has become … you can always straighten it back out,” he said, using a crumpled $20 note to illustrate the point.

Each person gets just the one chance to do and be their best, he told his crowd, which included students.

“And we have to take it,” he said.

Though his message was important, Mr Coutis made it clear he didn’t take himself too seriously: he said one of the main reasons his wife chose to marry him was so she could get a disabled car space at the shops.