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Life is an attitude |
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Friday, 13 June 2008 |
Inspirational speaker Ron Heagy keeps Mammoth High School students on the edge of their seats, tells them, “Get better, not bitter.”
By Stacey Powells
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Inspirational speaker Ron Heagy visited Mammoth High School on June 4. He was injured 28 years ago while on a surfing trip to Huntington Beach, Calif.MAMMOTH TIMES PHOTOS/SUSAN MORNING
— Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys
The day before he turned 18, Ron Heagy made a choice that would change his life forever. While on a surfing trip from Oregon to Huntington Beach, he decided to go back into the water while his younger brother slept in the sun.
Heagy dove under a wave and as fate would have it, the wave crashed down onto the back of his neck, severing the spinal cord.
As he was floating out with the tide, three thoughts went through his mind. The first was that he had never told his brother that he loved him. The second was that he'd neglected to hug his mom as he was leaving Oregon for his surfing vacation in California. And the third thought was that he had done nothing with his life and now it was all over.
Heagy woke up in the hospital the next day. It was his 18th birthday.
“I'm here to tell you I love my life,” Heagy said, beginning his talk to Mammoth High School students on Tuesday, June 4.
“I'm also here to tell you that I should have hugged my mom goodbye. I wasn't able to hug her with my arms for 28 years.” Heagy's mom passed away two months ago.
As a regular speaker (audiences of more than three million people nationwide), Heagy was lured to Mammoth by Lou Margulies of the local Community Advisory Committee (CAC). “He spoke at a business conference 10 years ago my husband and I attended and we were impacted by his speech,” Margulies said.
Margulies' husband was at the grand opening of Heagy's disabled children's camp and they stayed in touch with him throughout the years.
“This all fell into place last February when we put together the Awareness Week for the CAC.” She approached the Parent Teacher Organizations for the school and other sponsors in town, who contributed generously to bring Heagy to town.
“Sometimes life dumps on us and we make the choice to either give up or never give up,” he told the students.
Tragedies bring out the best and worst in the human condition, and Heagy's tragedy was no exception. Soon after it was confirmed that he would never walk again or be able to use his arms, his girlfriend left him. Eventually, the person that was his best friend since the second grade couldn't handle what had happened to Ron so the 'best friend' slipped away as well. “I had a real bad attitude for a while and if I wanted to that attitude could have destroyed me.”
You could hear a pin drop in the MHS gymnasium as Heagy spoke for an hour, recounting how he went from a strapping 17-year-old young man with a football scholarship to a quadriplegic.
“I had it made and then everything changed.”
The message Ron Heagy has is clear: “Your life counts. Not many of us have had a wake up call like I've had but my choice was clear. It was all about my attitude.”
For more information on Ron Heagy, visit www.rollonron.com.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 June 2008 )
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