Nothing
could stop this man after suffering severe burns on his legs at the age of
eight, Glenn Cunningham was given up 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 said, "No chance."
The
doctors examined his legs, but they had no way of looking into Glenn's heart.
He didn't listen to the doctors and 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 he did just that.
His
mother tells of how she used to push back the curtain and look out the windows
to watch Glenn reach up and take hold of an old plow in the yard. With a hand
on each handle, he began to make his gnarled and twisted legs function. And
with every step of pain, he came closer to walking. Soon he began to trot;
before long he was running. When he started to run, 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.
He
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 Madison Square Garden.
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