Description
An inspirational account of the author's life as a disabled survivor describes the training accident that rendered him a quadriplegic, his rehabilitation, and his efforts to run a business and become a glider pilot in spite of limited wheelchair accommodations.
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This is the story of Bruce McGhie's struggle, against all odds, to achieve the kind of life most people take tor granted. It is also the story of the determination that allowed him to live an extraordinary life. With so many young Americans returning from combat, catastrophically injured, Ascent offers a true example of hope. To become a partner in a consulting firm, to travel extensively in the U.S. and overseas, including eight trips to Africa, and to pilot a glider would be admirable accomplishments for anyone. Now imagine doing so with complete paralysis from the chest down and limited use of your hands.In his memoir, Bruce McGhie writes of his life as a man dealing with quadriplegia in a pre-handicap accessible world. After a tragic Air Force training accident at the age of twenty-two left him critically injured and completely dependent on others, McGhie was suddenly confronted with the prospect of never leading a normal life.During the agonizing recuperation and relearning process inherent to quadriplegics and paraplegics, he faced a variety of physical and psychological challenges, from basics such as transferring from bed to wheelchair, getting dressed, and driving with hand controls - that is, becoming physically independent - to deep emotional concerns such as marriage, parenthood and the rebuilding of his own sense of self-worth. McGhie not only overcame these obstacles with the empowering support of his wife of fifty-two years, champion golfer Barbara Bruning, but he achieved the "impossible"- a virtually normal life. He also dared to strive for more, fulfilling a 25-year dream to fly by becoming the first spinal-cord injured person in the world to be licensed as a glider pilot, using hand controls he helped develop.As one follows McGhie through the years, his disability quickly blends into the background as his accomplishments mount. The book helps to defuse the fear and awkwardness others feel in the presence of the disabled while simultaneously inspiring every person to make the most out of his or her life.
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