A
Story of Determination: Glenn Cunningham by Burt Dubin
The
little country schoolhouse was heated by an old-fashioned, pot-bellied coal
stove. A eight-year-old boy named Glenn Cunningham had the job of coming to
school early each day so that he could use kerosene to start the fire and warm
the room before his teacher and his classmates arrived. One cold morning
someone mistakenly filled the kerosene container he used with gasoline, and
disaster struck.
The
class and teacher arrived to find the schoolhouse engulfed in flames. Terrified
on realizing that Glenn was inside, they rushed in and managed to drag the
unconscious little boy out of the flaming building more dead than alive. He had
major burns over the lower half of his body and was taken to a nearby county
hospital.
From
his bed, the dreadfully burned, semi-conscious little boy faintly heard the
doctor talking to his mother. The doctor told his mother that her son would
surely die – which was for the best, really – for the terrible fire had
devastated the lower half of his body.
But
the brave boy didn't want to die. Glenn made up his mind that he would survive.
And somehow, to the amazement of the physician, he did survive. Yet when the
mortal danger was past, he again heard the doctor and his mother speaking
quietly. The mother was told that since the fire had destroyed so much flesh in
the lower part of his body, it would almost be better if he had died, since he
was doomed to be a lifetime cripple with no use at all of his lower limbs. His
mother refused to let the doctors amputate.
Once
more this brave little boy made up his mind. He would not be a cripple. He
would walk. But unfortunately from the waist down, Glenn had no motor ability.
His thin, scarred legs just dangled there, all but lifeless.
Ultimately
Glenn was released from the hospital. Every day afterward his mother and father
would massage his little legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing.
Yet his determination that he would walk was as strong as ever.
When
he wasn't in bed, he was confined to a wheelchair. One sunny day his mother
wheeled him out into the yard to get some fresh air. This day, instead of
sitting there, he threw himself from the chair. Glenn pulled himself across the
grass, dragging his legs behind him.
He
worked his way to the white picket fence bordering their lot. With great
effort, he raised himself up on the fence. Then, stake by stake, he began
dragging himself along the fence, resolved that he would walk. He started to do
this every day until he wore a smooth path all around the yard beside the
fence. There was nothing he wanted more than to develop life in those legs.
Ultimately
through his daily massages, Glenn's iron persistence and his resolute
determination, he did develop the ability first to stand up, then to walk
haltingly with help, then to walk by himself – and then miraculously – to run.
Glenn
began to run to school. He ran for the sheer joy of running and being able to
run. He ran everywhere that he could. The people in his town would often see
him run by on his way to who knows where and smile. Later in college Glenn made
the track team where his tremendous determination paid off. He eventually
received the nickname the "Kansas Flyer."
In
February 1934, in New York City's famed Madison Square Garden, this young man
who was not expected to survive, who would surely never walk, who could never
hope to run – this determined young man, Dr. Glenn Cunningham, ran the mile in
four minutes and eight seconds, the world's fastest indoor mile! Later that
same year in a prestigious outdoor track meet, he shaved another second off his
record to run the world's fastest mile to that time.
Note:
To verify this amazing true story, see the Glenn Cunningham article on the
website of the Sullivan Award for the top U.S. amateur athlete of the year at
this link. Partially because of his incredible story of determination, Glenn
Cunningham was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974.
And for a powerfully inspiring, short video showing other determined
individuals who had to overcome major obstacles to achieve great fame, click
here: http://www.personalgrowthcourses.net/video/life_risk
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