Topic: Honorable Mention
Rick Hoyt was born in 1962. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, which caused him to lose oxygen to his brain and become disabled. Dick and Judy Hoyt, Rick’s parents, were told that their first-born son would be a “vegetable” and doctors advised them to put him into an institution. They refused. His parents were convinced that Rick deserved a chance to lead as normal a life as possible and they took him home.
Rick had two younger brothers to grow up with and his parents made every effort to give him the same opportunities that his brothers had. They struggled to have Rick admitted into a public school, having to “prove” his intelligence and ability to participate to administrators. Rick had learned to communicate using an alphabet system that his brother created whereby Rick would nod his head to select certain letters to spell out words.
A group of Tufts University engineers saw a clear, empirical evidence of Rick’s comprehension skills. "They told him a joke," said Dick. "Rick just cracked up. They knew then that he could communicate!" The engineers went on to build — using $5,000 the family managed to raise in 1972 - an interactive computer that would allow Rick to write out his thoughts using the slight head-movements that he could manage. When the computer was originally brought home, Rick surprised his family with his first "spoken" words. They had expected perhaps "Hi, Mom" or "Hi, Dad." But on the screen Rick wrote "Go Bruins." The Boston Bruins were in the Stanley Cup finals that season, and his family realized he had been following the hockey games along with everyone else. "So we learned then that Rick loved sports," said Dick.
When Rick was 15, he communicated something to his father that changed both their lives. "Dad," the mute quadriplegic wrote in his computer after his father pushed him in a wheelchair in a five-kilometer race, "I felt like I wasn't handicapped." For more than 20 years, Rick’s dad has either towed, pushed or carried Rick in a string of athletic challenges including every Boston Marathon since 1981 and most recently the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii. "He's the one who has motivated me because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be out there competing," says his father. "What I'm doing is loaning Rick my arms and legs so he can be out there competing like everybody else."
In 1993 Rick, a young man with no use of his legs or arms or of his tongue got his Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University.
It’s heartbreaking to imagine what Terri Schiavo could have achieved if she had received the proper rehabilitation. If her husband, Michael Schiavo, had loved her as much as the Hoyts have loved their son, her story could have been one of magnificent miracles, instead of the brutal tragedy that it turned out to be.
TEAM HOYT
Posted by neverevergiveup
at 3:55 PM PDT
Updated: Saturday, 24 September 2005 1:37 PM PDT
