This was orginally written for a company newsletter to breakdown some walls
for me. My story is current, and about me though written about somebody else!  Be
encouraged! 
 
               WILD HARRY'S ADVENTURES 
 
     What a great time we ve had helping people have a good/relaxing time!  We've
made some neat friends, and had fun doing all of this!  You've met and learned
to deal with all types of people.  You've met and worked with a guy who has
been very fun to be with.  He seems to have an attitude that can be so
optimistic and positive it is fun to be around him.  You ask yourself, "How in
the world can that guy be so happy always?  Well this is his story of hope. 
He was a very talented guy who had it made.  A great career started, a new car, a
great skier and tons of friends.  He was extremely intelligent, had plenty of
girlfriends, but things were never good enough.  He had started doing drugs at a
very early age trying to fill a hole that he didn t even know was there.  By the
time he had finished eighth grade, he already smoked weed regularly, taken uppers,
downers, and even LSD.  The guy smoked cigarettes and he drank whenever he had the
chance.  In high school he did PCP then, in college, he was still doing drugs only
now he discovered cocaine.  But something was missing inside.  He thought it was
cool being with all the pretty girls but that just made him lonely.  What was he
looking for? 
      On March 2, 1985, he was out with a good friend drinking and using cocaine. 
He was driving home to the condo he lived in with his aerobic instructor
girlfriend.  Her sister and brother-in-law had come for the weekend. What was
he even doing out? How big was that hole?  While driving through the
intersection at Armstrong and Olive, A pick-up hit the right side of his of
S-10 Blazer.  The impact threw him out through the right rear window!  Nobody
is sure how long he was on the road.  What they do know is that a man stopped,
went to phone help, and when he had returned, the guy had been run over by
another car!  He spent thirty-one days in a coma.  He was on a heart and lung
machine, being fed through his nose and breathing by a machine with a tube
through his neck.  The guy had a massive head injury.  His brain had been
damaged.  His brain was unable to keep his body alive. He was only a body
being kept alive by machines.  His mom never left the hospital and his
friends, who he could never pay back, didn t either.  VMC (Valley Medical
Center now University Medical) emptied the waiting room and then lined the
floor with mattresses so his friends so could sleep.    
     People in comas can hear.  Hearing is the last sense to leave us.  They ask
people not to speak of bad things when visiting because of this.  His brother
said that he would come in and talk about things he did to really upset his
brother when they were young.  His family knew that his brother could hear him
when he did this because his brother s heart rate on the monitor would
skyrocket!  He says he had some powerful dreams.  One dream from what he was
hearing, and one dream that he believes he was given a choice.  First, he was
lying on an operating table surrounded by doctors and nurses.  The doctor was
explaining to everyone what had happened and how he was hurt.  The last thing
the doctor said was, "It is all up to him."  Then, he said he was walking down
a dirt road with wheat for as far as you could see on all sides.  He was going
home to see his girlfriend and to get better. He had a purpose. He came upon a
handsome man leaning on a rake or shovel or something, waving him back.  He
thinks that if he had been alone he would have gone back.  A very strange thing
was happening, he said that he was never alone.  He says that he played that
scene through his mind a million times, that man was leaning on a sickle.  He
had been given a choice.  Life was going to be hard.  He was hurt very badly
and he knew it.  He could have given up, but he says he kept going and didn't
even look back.  He says that was because he wasn t alone!  He never felt alone
the whole time! 
     He spent month at club VMC on a heart and lung machine to teach his brain to
regulate them again.  Then he was transferred to Community Hospital.  He began
his rehabilitation there.  He had to relearn absolutely everything like to
walk, to talk, to eat, to care for himself, where he lived, who people were in
his life, everything you could think of.  After the hospital, he was in
rehabilitation five days a week, 8:30 - 4:00, for ten months of neurological
retraining.  He had already learned in the hospital how to take care of
himself, this part of his recovery dealt with his being able to think, reason,
and compute things with enough speed to use in real life.  He had to learn how
to feel and express emotions again, and to interact with others.  He had speech
therapy, physical therapy, cognitive retraining, and vocational therapy.  He
says these were his options, give 100 percent every day or be handicapped. It
really wasn't a choice at all.  The guy gave his absolute best every day.  Now
that he's out in the real world, he says there is no reason in the world not to
give life his very best!  You'll see that he does just that. 
      When he left CSUF in 1983, his grade point average was 1.9.  Big deal!  He
didn't think he needed good grades.  He was good, but in his heart he didn t
feel like he was worth anything.  His ego made him so proud and nothing he did
could satisfy the need is his heart.   After rehab, he told his therapists
that he was going back to CSUF to finish his degree.  His therapists all told
him, People that hurt their heads like you don't do things like go to school."
 His grade point average to finish his degree was a hard fought 3.3!  He has
finished his Masters Degree in Cross-Cultural Teaching Education and his
Multi-Subject California Teaching Credential with a GPA of 3.6 and is looking
for a job teaching in Kindergarten or 1st grade! 
      Before he hurt his brain, he had an I.Q. of 168.  He was extremely gifted but
really had no idea of how absolutely gifted he was.  After rehab, he applied
to an organization named MENSA.  An organization you get into by your I.Q.
being in the top 2% of the people in the world.  He needed an I.Q. score of
158.  He didn t make it, he now has an I.Q. of 130.  His psychologist said
that an average I.Q. is between 90-110!  He says that he struggles to fit in
and he says the people here (his co-workers and the guests including the kids)
at Wild Water have helped him a great deal. People think that because he walks
and talks differently there is something wrong with him...NOT!   He tells us
that the world wants to tell him he s disabled and he says that s fine; he
gets the best parking spaces! 
     To celebrate his accident every year, he made a lofty goal for himself that has
been such an awesome experience that he does it every year now, he runs the Los
Angeles Marathon!  2001 was his ninth time!  The marathon is a great time.  He
met and ran with Garret Morris of Saturday Night Live, he met John Tesh, he met
and corresponds with Dr. Bill Burke, the president of the marathon.  He s met
Danelle Folda, Tylyn John, Charlotte Kemp, and Pamela Bryant, Playboy
centerfolds of the Playboy Running Team.  He met Pat Connelly, coach of the USC
cross-country team. He s ridden his bicycle to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National
Parks, to Yosemite a couple of times, and from Cambria to Solvang five times.
He does biathlons, step classes, and has even learned to Rollerblade!  He says
triathlons are the final frontier! 
     He says that a career for him has been a struggle. He didn t know where he was
supposed to be until he started substitute teaching!  He says that he gets to
help kids to become the best they can be, and that he gets paid for that! 
Right now, he has just finished his Masters in Cross-Cultural Teaching and is
now looking for a permanent teaching position!  He says that the most amazing
thing he does is sing in the choir at Northwest Church at 8:00, 9:30, and
11:00!  Where he sings praises to Jesus Christ, his Lord, Savior, Guide and
Friend.  His brain goes like the speed of light but the part of his brain that
modulates how fast he thinks and how fast he talks has been damaged. Singing is
at a metered pace and helps him speak at a gentler pace!  Life is difficult for
him that moving his body to walk, run and to speak for him now is a conscience
effort.  That it s not a  natural  function any longer.  He say that he just
keeps trying still after all this time.   He says that he doesn t care for any
other option! 
     He clings to Jesus his only real hope.  He says that he doesn't understand all
about Jesus, he says he believes who Jesus is and hopes in Him. Now, like in
his coma he says he doesn't see Him, but he knows he's not alone. He was dead, 
but now is more alive now than he ever could have imagined!  He says that everyone
needs to repent or change their ways.  He says that he couldn't have changed if he
wanted to but that God can change a person if the person is willing!  After what he
has seen and experienced, he believes that there is something the Lord wants him
here for!  He says to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection, and believe in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ because His Kingdom is coming soon!  The love we all are
looking for he says is found nowhere else but in Jesus! 
     He says that every runner wants to run a marathon, every bachelor wants to meet
a Playboy Bunny (he s never been married), and everyone on earth wants to be
able to sing!  The Lord has given this guy his wildest dreams!  El habla
Espanol tambien!  Que Espanol es una lingua muy romantica!  El dices que gente
en el mundo piensen Frances es la lingua de amore.  El dices lo es Espanol! 
     He wishes that everyone could have the same experience with Jesus without the
trauma!  He says that we all have that hole in our hearts that only Jesus can
fill.  That Jesus wants to fill that hole for us no matter what we ve done or
how we ve been, He wants to fill that hole with Himself but will never impose
Himself on you!  He waits for us to ask Him in.  Many years ago the guy says he
did ask Him into his heart and when he was walking in the wheat field in the
dream, he wasn t alone because the Lord was  carrying him !  That he was His
forever!  Praise the Lord! 
The guy says that he never would have understood unless this had all happened! He
believes that he couldn t have organized all this if he wanted, that this is all too
amazing, too coincidental, and too gigantic!  The guy now knows that the Creator of
the universe lives in his heart and when God the Father looks at the guy, He sees
only His Son!  Amazing that He wants to live in everyone s heart but is a gentleman
and will not  invade our space  unless we ask Him in!   
    He says that all that has happened to him wasn t for his benefit but for God s
Glory!  That he has been blessed to show the Father s Glory!  He functions on a
level far above average but parts of his brain are dead!  This happened so that
everyone will see the remarkable Grace and Power of God!  He says that he will
continue to look to Jesus out of a heart of incredible gratitude!   That when
one realizes and see what has happened on our behalf, you ll fall on your knees
in adoration and gratitude to Jesus! 
     If you see him smiling all the time, happy to be alive, you'll now know why. 
We've had a lot of fun this summer, thanks! 
 
            WILD HARRY'S CORNER O' WISDOM 
 
Work like everything depends on you and pray like it all depends on the Lord!  Then
give life your best effort and watch what He can do with you! 
 
Life isn't about what you can get.  When a person dies, nobody remembers what a
person has, they remember what one gave!  Life is about giving! 
 
If you have any questions, would like to talk with Harry about this or would be
interested in Harry speaking for your group/organization, he can be reached at 
harwee3@sbcglobal.net or at his fun, single guy, address at
hunkmuffin4u@hotmail.com.