i can only imagine

Mar 24, 2010

Two posts from me in one day? Well, after the drought of the past eight days I thought I would bless you with some life-sustaining nourishment for the soul.

You have perhaps heard of Dick and Rick Hoyt. If not, let me tell you about them. Rick was born with cerebral palsy. His doctors told his parents he had no cerebral functioning, would never understand anything, and would be a vegetable of a person his whole life. They recommended he be put in an institution and left behind.

His parents said “No.”

They brought him home and loved him. They held him. They talked to him. They watched Bruins games as a family and he watched with them. They tried to raise him like any other child. They knew something was going on in his brain because of the light in his eyes and the strange sounds he would make at jokes. After many years they were able to have a computer made for him that would allow him to use his eyes and mouth twitches to type out his thoughts. No one knew if it would work or if something really was going on inside his brain.

GO BRUINS was what he typed that first day.

The beginning of his communication journey.

Later, he found out about a five mile run. He typed to his dad that he wanted to do it. His dad was overweight, out of shape, and in no condition to run five miles. He said “Okay son, we will do it.”

They finished second to last, but they finished. To everyone’s amazement, they finished.

He typed another message “Dad, when I was in the race I didn’t feel disabled.”

The beginning of his athletic journey.

Now, he and his father have done hundreds of races and specialize in the triathlon. They love doing Iron Man races and together they are changing the meaning of the word CAN.

If you want to give yourself hope, joy, and determination, go watch this video now. Do yourself a favor, get the tissues before you hit play.