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On August 20, 1983, I faced an immediate and irreversible assault on my clear and optimistic view of the future when I came down headfirst on a trampoline breaking three bones in my neck and leaving me paralyzed from mid-chest down. I was 23 years-old. 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. What had started as a bright sunny day celebrating my sister Priscilla’s birthday on the lakeshore was ending on a medevac helicopter with Priscilla calling my parents to deliver the devastating news. 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. Whatever is clouding your vision of the future, my hope is that these pages will tell you a story about confronting adversity with a positive attitude. 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.