Awe-inspiring (must read)

[2525]

watch this vid after you've read it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE



Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in
marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a
wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and
pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same
day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back
mountain climbing. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame,
right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick
was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him
brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

``He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told
him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an
institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes
followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the
engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was
anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was
told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out
a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed
him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his
head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!''
And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the
school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want
to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran
more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still,
he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for
two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were
running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving
Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly
shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite
a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a
few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then
they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran
another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the
following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since
he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still,
Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour
Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud
getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you
think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says.
Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick
with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston
Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their
best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world
record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens
to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at
the time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had
a mild heart attack arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in
such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15
years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in
Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass.,
always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and
compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this
Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really
wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. `The thing I'd most like,''
Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

[conalabu]

Pretty amazing story. Also makes me feel like crap not working out. Thanks.

[Virginian]

Wow, that's awesome!

Con you can pull me around in a chair.

[dlocke1419]

Wow, he deserve a big pat on the back. Glad to here of someone helping there kids instead of beging dicks to them.

[ghost98]

This story almost brought a tear to my eye.... What a great team.

[Ducky]

Pretty amazing story. Also makes me feel like crap not working out. Thanks.

+1000

[TheOldRhino]

Okay. I cried. I hope you a-holes are happy.

I wish this was required reading for all those shitty-ass deadbeat dads out there who bitch about having to take their kids for a weekend.

[Willowdared]

**grabs Centurion44, and lays a big wet kiss on his manly cheek**

A good reminder to all of us, who usually just see the worst side of people, that there is still great good in the world.

[TacticalTim]

with a story like that, makes you see how people take everything for granted. great story!

[Lo523]

A good reminder to all of us, who usually just see the worst side of people, that there is still great good in the world.[/quote]

+1 and it made my eyes leak!

[deputy29]

This story strikes so close to home. I had a physically handicapped brother who died two years ago. Yesterday was his birthday and I was feeling down until I read this. He had a rare condition where if there was any trama his muscles turned to bone. His iq was a genuis, but he hadn't been out of the house for 18 years. He was involved in REACT but hadn't been out of the house for 18 years when he passed away. By just being there by the cb radio he was able to help many people. When we had floods he would call in and report the local river readings. If I was working a different area the deputies that were working the area would call him with the readings so he could call them in. I have faced those with knifes and guns but seeing the suffering he went through I know He was the truely brave one. Not only was he my baby brother, he was my hero and will alway be.

[Ducky]

Deputy29, I've heard of people with that condition, and you have my sympathy. For those who don't know, it essentially locks you into your own body, making it impossible to move. The courage it takes to survive like that is incredible, and your brother sounds like someone incredibly special to reach beyond himself to help others.

[2525]

Just imagine how many kids could be prevented from going bad if they had fathers like this or brothers like deputy29's. I wish there could be more people like that had such strength and character.

[Willowdared]

***hugs Deputy29***

I've had the honor of working with special needs kids, and both your story, and the story that started this thread highlight how much disabled people have to offer the world.

We shouldn't just make places more accessable, we should make society more accepting.

[deputy29]

There's a guy in the area where I live that when he was a young boy he was sledding and was hit by a car. He suffered brain damage. Instead of sitting around collecting a disability check he started sweeping parking lots for money. Five days a week he starts work at 5am no matter what the weather and works at least 10 hours a day. He would often stop by and talk to my brother offering encouragement. I don't know many able people that have the work ethic that this man does. Most times those that "normal" people consider weak are actually the strong ones. If you ever want to see those with the greatest courage go to a Children's Hospital. I saw a teenager that had lost half his body in an accident be the one to great all the new kids on his floor. He was on a kinda strecher because he couldn't sit in a wheelchair. Years later I heard that they had been able to build him a new lower body and he was able to walk. Sometimes it's the special people that inspire others to be special.

[Buttercup]

***hugs Deputy29***

I've had the honor of working with special needs kids, and both your story, and the story that started this thread highlight how much disabled people have to offer the world.

We shouldn't just make places more accessable, we should make society more accepting.

As have I, and you're so right.

That was a beautiful story, it brought tears to my eyes.