I missed out on a lot because I didn't interact with other kids, and I think you learn a lot that way. In high school, I was brought by my neighborhood friend to (religious education) classes. I was amazed at how much I learned from the other kids in the classroom. That was the first time that I had ever been in a classroom. Just the answers they gave to the teacher's questions were so different than mine. They gave me a whole new perspective on learning. It was like, "Wow, I never thought about it that way."

One thing this tutoring business did teach me was how to study, because I only had two hours of classroom time a day and I usually whittled that down to an hour and a half...like any kid, you don't really want to go to school, so you think of ways to delay it. So I would always ask (the tutor), "So, how's your family doing? How's the kids?" And she would be off for a good half hour.

When I went to college, I did extremely well even though I was really reluctant to go. (One teacher) taught me right up until I was a senior and said, "Dan, I hate to tell you this, but you're just not college material. You're going to be frustrated and I really wouldn't recommend it." She sent me to Voc. Rehab. who are supposed to find you jobs to do and they came back with the idea of making those little flowers the VA sells. You know those little paper flowers? So here I am a quad, so I could maybe make one an hour for like a penny. It's like eight cents a day, ten cents a day. I think not.

My family was all very supportive. I was always included in all the family activities and trips. We went to the mountains. We even used to go semi-hiking up to the Flume in the White Mountains. I was in a manual wheelchair then and my Dad actually carried me in my wheelchair. What is it, five miles around the Flume? And he was sweating so bad that I was drenched myself because he was sweating all over me.

I hope I'm a lot like my Dad. If you're severely disabled, you have to learn one thing, and that is to be really patient. If you're an impatient quad, you're going to be really miserable. My Dad had the patience of Job. He never got upset or angry because he had to do five million things for me. He's a great, great guy.