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Fletcher Cleaves

The other day in class we had a guest speaker, Fletcher Cleaves, come and share his testimony about his life after a serious car wreck.  Due to the distraction of another driver, Cleaves swerved to avoid the oncoming car and wound up crashing into a ravine.  After emergency transportation to a nearby hospital, medical personnel informed Cleaves he suffered a spinal cord injury and would never be able to walk again.  Let me interject here and say Cleaves was a freshman college football starter and in the best shape of his life.  I don't know all the details about how he initially dealt with this realization, but I have witnessed his accomplishments just eight years later.  Not only has he regained functions doctors told him he would never be able to such as living independently, he also has turned this seemingly hopeless situation into bright opportunities for others.  I was astounded at his entire outlook on life.  Here was a guy who before was looking at a successful career involving his physical abilities when all of the sudden his one claim to fame was taken from him.  But that didn't stop him.  Cleaves has an incredible personality that connects with each individual.  One minute I was laughing at his jokes and the next crying at the unfairness of his situation, but the whole time he not once asked for pity nor wanted to give up.  Instead, he used his story as a motivation.  Here was a guy only four years older than me confined to a wheelchair, but the wheelchair didn't stop him!  I don't even know how many people he has touched with his story, but I do know that the same tenacity that made him fight through one more pushup will drive him to fight for one more life.

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