Remember when I said it all came together for the good？ Because of the money shortage， we had changed our schedule for India， but when funding became available， we rescheduled our visit there and actually made it a week earlier.
That change in schedule may well have saved our lives. Just a couple days after we were in Mumbai， three of the locations we visited were hit by terrorists. The Taj Hotel， the airport， and the southern Mumbai train station were among their targets in attacks that killed 180 people and left 300 injured.
Our original schedule would have had us in Mumbai， at those very locations， during those attacks. You might say we were lucky， but I believe God had a plan that we could not see. That is why it is so important to have faith in the future and to keep working toward your goals even when the odds seem stacked against you.
A FOOT UP ON LIFE
I began this chapter talking about my left foot， a very useful little appendage. I’ve learned to be very thankful for my left foot because innovators are busy inventing nifty gadgets that work just perfectly for it. Joysticks and touch screens are some of the handiest foot devices to come my way. Even without arms and legs， I can now experience life in ways that my parents and I never would have imagined when I was a child. Though the possibilities for my life may have seemed narrow back then， the limits have been fading away thanks to modern technology and the power of believing and achieving.
As difficult as your life can be， as cruel and unrelenting as it may get， you should hang in there. My situation seemed bleak when I first came into this world， but I have managed to carve out a fulfilling life with many rewards. And if you think I‘m an exception， consider the accomplishments of one of my personal heroes， the late Christy Brown.
Born in Dublin， Ireland， in 1932， Christy was the tenth of twenty-two children in his family， though only thirteen of them survived to adulthood. Christy entered the world with all his limbs， but he was terribly crippled， so much so that he could not move and could only barely utter sounds. At the time the doctors did not know what was wrong with him. Years later he would be diagnosed with an especially severe form of cerebral palsy.
Because Christy could not speak clearly， doctors thought for years that he was mentally handicapped too. His mother insisted that he had no problems mentally—he just could not communicate. She and other family members worked and worked with him. Then one day while Christy was trying to get something across to his sister， he grabbed a piece of chalk from her with his left foot. Due to his physical disabilities， it was the only part of his body he could control.
Christy learned to write， draw， and paint with his left foot. His family， like mine， was determined to give him as normal a life as possible， so they hauled him around in an old go-cart and then in a wagon. Like me， he became an avid swimmer. Then his mother met a doctor who helped get him admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital. This doctor later created a hospital for Christy and other cerebral palsy patients.
He also introduced Christy to literature， and several famous Irish writers inspired Christy to express himself as a poet and author. His first book was a memoir called My Left Foot； it was expanded into a best-selling novel， Down All the Days， and was made into a movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis （who， by the way， is the son of one of Christy’s literary friends， Cecil）. Day-Lewis won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal. Christy eventually published six other books and was also an avid painter.
Think of the long dark days Christy Brown and his family spent wondering what quality of life he would ever have. He could move only one small part of his tormented body. He could make only a few sounds. Yet he became a noted writer， poet， and painter and led an amazing life that was depicted in an award-winning movie！
What lies in store for you？ Why would you not stick around to see how your story unfolds？
A FULL VIEW
At times in my childhood I had a limited perspective. My vision of my life was so self-centered that I never dreamed there were other people in worse circumstances than mine， people like Christy Brown. Then， around age thirteen， I read a newspaper story about an Australian man who‘d been involved in a horrible accident. As I recall， he was paralyzed， unable to move or talk， and confined to a bed for the rest of his life. I couldn’t imagine how horrible that would be.
His story helped to open my eyes and expand my vision. I realized that while my lack of limbs posed many challenges， I still had so much to be thankful for， so many possibilities in my life.
