Nothing could stop this man
After suffering severe burns on his legs at the age of five, Glenn
Cunningham was given up on by doctors who believed he would be a
hopeless cripple destined to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. “He
will never be able to walk again,” they confirmed. “No chance.”
The doctors examined his legs, but they had no way of looking into Glenn
Cunningham’s heart. He didn’t listen to the doctors and wholeheartedly set
out to walk again. Lying in bed, his skinny, red legs covered with scar tissue,
Glenn vowed, “Next week, I’m going to get out of bed. I’m going to walk.”
And Glenn did just that.
His mother tells of how she used to push back the curtain and look out the
window to watch Glenn reach up and take hold of an old plow in the yard.
With a hand on each handle, he began to struggle to make his gnarled and
twisted legs function. And with every step a step of pain, his face was
continuously twisted and he was bathed in sweat. But he was consistent. He
came closer to walk and soon after that, he walked almost normally. And
like a miracle, he run. When he started to run, on his legs with interlacing
scalds, he became even more determined.
“I always believed that I could walk, and I did. Now I’m going to run faster
than anybody has ever run.” And did he ever prove that he actually did it.
The boy that day became a great miler who, in 1934, set the world’s record
of 4:06. He was honored as the outstanding athlete of the century at famous
Madison Square Garden.
- Jeff Yalden
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.
- Beverly Sills
