Topic: Someone Like Me

Guest: John W. Quinn

I was born with cerebral palsy. In spite of partial paralysis, two different sized feet, and the inability to walk prior to the age of four, I still was able to not only find employment, but retired at the age of forty after a highly successful twenty-year career in a major corporation: the United States Navy. I did it all while keeping my condition a complete secret out of a deep desire to be treated just like everyone else.

In Someone Like Me, An Unlikely Story of Challenge and Triumph over Cerebral Palsy, I describe what it is like to live with a handicap—a life filled with pain, laughter and love.

I wrote this book to give hope to the millions of people struggling with muscular disorders who fight to make it through every day. It is also for the parents who lie awake at night and wonder what the future holds for their children–those who resist leaving the house for fear of being laughed at because they are different.  Decades later, I can still remember that laughter.

With a little luck and lots of hard work and determination to succeed despite overwhelming odds, sometimes we can indeed achieve what seems impossible.

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