Spinning Forward to Success
My disability is part of me. It’s not who I am. I think people get that.
On August 20, 1983, I faced an immediate and irreversible assault on my clear and optimistic view of the future when I came down head first on a trampoline breaking three bones in my neck and leaving me paralyzed from mid-chest down. I was 23 years old.
Between the ages of 23 and 29, I lost my ability to walk and both of my parents to colon cancer. Yet in that same period of time, I married my soulmate, earned a graduate degree and began a career path that would one day make me a CEO.
Spinning Forward is the story of a young man who, six weeks into a new career, faces three tragedies in five years and finds strength deep within himself and through family and friends to achieve goals beyond his dreams.
The elements of your challenge are probably entirely different. You may have a mental or physical disability, or you may be facing the realities of substance abuse, a divorce, or a problem with your parents or children.
My hope is that these pages will tell you a story about confronting adversity with a positive attitude.