On September 30th 1998 I was crossing the street in a crosswalk when a young man ran through a red light running me over at 40 mph. He dragged me down the street as he tried to leave the scene of the accident.

I sustained many injuries to my body ranging from soft tissue to bone displacements. What I thought was the worst injury, the brain injury that changed my perception of the whole world, wasnt the worst one at all. The worst injury that happened began that day, it continued well into my recovery going un-noticed and there were no tests to diagnose this illness.

This captor has very sharp teeth and claws that dig deep down into the most inner core of ones being. It is invisible; the symptoms slowly creep in un-noticed until it is usually too late for most people.

As time passed I lost the ability to do many things. At first it was bigger things that I was unable to do for myself and as time passed it progressed in to every area of my entire life.

I wasnt the only victim of this horrific illness, my family and loved ones suffered immensely. As time passed I was only a skeleton of the man I used to be and hope slipped away that I could or would ever return.

Until one day I identified the monster that lived within me.

One day I realized that I was the monster. I realized that I had made so many excuses for myself that I had surrendered with my mind body soul and spirit that I was disabled and could never truly be a useful man again.

I had bought into this, hook line and sinker, and after telling myself over and over again thousands and thousands of times I BELIEVED IT

I unknowingly became my own worst enemy and blamed everyone around me for it.

Until I one day looked at the man in the mirror and realized that I had let myself, my wife, my children, my mom and dad, and everyone around me, down.

I often talked about the many victories and accomplishments in my life, how I had once ran a large company making the big bucks living in a big home with all the toys and trimmings of the RICH PEOPLE.

One day as I bragged to a man about what I once had been, he asked a simple question. That caused the dark veil that had blinded me for many years stealing many happy years from me and my loved ones to be lifted. He simply asked where is that man now?

Why hasnt he overcome this situation too?

I had to stop and think for a moment. It was a question that I could make excuses to others for but could not make excuses to myself and to my God.

I realized that this was a small challenge compared to the ones I had faced in my former life and that no one, I mean no one was going to overcome my excuses but me.

I was living in the past all the time and denying myself and my loved ones a future. I could never enjoy the gift of the present because I was to busy dwelling in the pain of losing the past.

I had to stop trying to be the man I used to be, because we never can be who we used to be. We are ever changing day by day.

When I really began to feel true excitement and a zest for life was when I started explore and see what kind of man I could be.

I would like to extend an invitation to you and your loved ones who has bought into the title of disabled. I would like to invite you to join my newsletter to get helpful tips and thoughts weekly on how to overcome the Life Sentence of being disabled. I truly want to help you to smile again and see the sunshine that I was kept from all those years. If I can just pay it forward to someone else. My pain and suffering had a purpose and that purpose was to help others.

Please go to http://www.disabledtips.com/Join.html to start receiving our newsletter.

Thank you,

David Crowton