I am a graduate student of business, with a bachelor's degree in psychology. I have learned many different things from my years of higher education, but if you asked me where I learned some of the life's greatest lessons, I would have to say in a hospital room or in therapy.

On January 1, 1998, at one o'clock in the morning, I was at a friend's cabin at Deer Valley, Utah. (Of course I don't remember any of this - this is what they told me) The party was great, a live band played for us, and we rang in the new year. We then decided to take an inner-tube to the ski slopes. We drove up to the ski resort, grabbed the tubes, and ran up to the nearest spot, a great place to tube down the hill.

I was told I went down the hill extremely fast (35-40 mph they say) and lost direction over a mogul at the turn of the ski run. My friends all continued to fly down the hill, while I flew over the incline, head-first, into a transformer box that I have since revisited. It is quite large.

I hit the box with the side of my head, over my left ear. I sustained a fractured skull, elbow, and hip - in addition to going completely unconscious from a contra-coup brain injury.

One of my friends heard the noise, and came over to see where I had gone. I didn't answer his shouts of my name, and he only spotted the empty tube. He ran down the incline, into the trees, and he heard me fighting for air. The broken bones in my face had caused my throat to fill with blood. He yelled for help.

One of my friends had just passed his test to become an Emergency Medical Technician, and he ran over to where I lay struggling for breath. He was able to check the preliminary emergency signs, while another friend with a cell phone called the paramedics.

I was taken in the Life-Flight helicopter to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. I remained there, comatose, for three weeks. During that time, I developed pneumonia from aspiration in the accident, and in response to the heavy artillery of antibiotics, staph infection. I was able to overcome these, I am sure, from the faith and prayers of my family and friends.

I was moved to the rehabilitation unit, undergoing daily speech, physical, and occupational therapies. After a couple months of inpatient therapy, I was moved to my parent's house (one block from a hospital) where I recieved all the necessary therapies as an outpatient.

In August of that same year, I was determined to return to school. Although unable to drive, and living twenty miles from campus, my supportive family drove me to school every day. I enrolled in three classes, that although less credits than usual, succeeded in being very difficult for me. The social life so necessary for a college student died. For a long time I would sleep at least ten hours nightly and require a nap every day if I intended to function normally until bedtime. My dedication paid off however, when at the end of that semester, I was inducted into the National Honor Society in Psychology, and served a position in the chapter leadership. One year later, I graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Psychology and a 3.0 GPA. By that time, I had hoped to lose the limp in my walk from the broken hip as I crossed the stage to collect my diploma.

I now am a first-year graduate student at the University of Phoenix, studying for my Master of Business Administration degree. I still run into obstacles, at times many of them, but I have learned something valuable from this experience: that there is something inside of me that is SUPERIOR TO CIRCUMSTANCE. I am determined to succeed, I know I will. When I am faced with a hardship, I remember when I learned to walk and talk when it seemed like the easiest, most basic, yet the hardest, most grueling thing I would ever do. I could do it.

I could do it. I graduated. I will succeed in the future.

Email me any questions or concerns you have.

Email Mike