BIOGRAPHY

My life was supposed to be nothing more than a tragic, short story, but it has been a beautiful,
sweeping epic of meaning, love and triumph.

I was born in Steubenville, Ohio on December 14, 1955.  When I was 15 months old, I wasn't
standing or walking on my own.  A neurologist in Pittsburgh told my parents that they were
unnecessarily worried and that I would walk any day.  Three months later, a jury of physicians
diagnosed me with a progressive neuromuscular disease named Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  They
claimed that I would be dead by my second birthday.  But the doctors made a critical mistake,
they never bothered asking my opinion of what my life could become.  I invite you to embrace
and honor your own opinion and your dreams and pursue them passionately.  Do not become
discouraged by the skeptical and critical opinions of others.  After all, it's your life, it's your opinion.

When I was four years old, I had already outlived the doctors' prognosis by two years.  My parents
gave me a 1960 issue of LOOK, which featured a story on President Roosevelt.  As I studied the
photographs of the President in a wheelchair, I realized I was different.  More importantly, however,
I knew I could make a difference.  FDR became my inspiration and motivation.  He was my hero.
The doctors said that I couldn't, but the magazine said I could. FDR did not allow polio to defeat him,
I could not allow my disease to destroy me.

Now, I am 43 years old.  I have achieved many victories.  In 1974, I was the first wheelchair freshman
in the history of Duke University.  While in law school at BrighamYoung University, I served as law clerk
for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.  Since 1982, I have served as Utah's Assistant Attorney
General.  In 1992, I was appointed an adjunct professor of law at Brigham Young University.

Although my body continues to grow weaker, my will to live and love for life grow ever stronger.  There is
very little I can do to control my body's deterioration.  The only things I can control are my reaction to it
and my perspective of it.  The key to our happiness is to appreciate and develop our strengths, not pity
ourselves because we have weaknesses.  We must learn to love and value ourselves for who we are, not
hate ourselves for who we aren't.  Ultimately, we are responsible for our happiness and our lives.