Posted on
September 09, 2012 by
Todd Civin
Dick Hoyt, Rick Hoyt and Todd Civin celebrate the publishing of the book “One Letter at a Time”.
Rarely in life do we have the opportunity to look back and appreciate the fact that we may have actually achieved something that really counts. Something that makes a difference not only to ourselves but perhaps has an impact on everyone who touches it. A creation that seems to have such potential impact that it becomes impossible to comprehend that it came from us alone and wasn’t also sprinkled with a heavy handed dose of divine intervention.
I’m reminded of the story called Starfish that I heard some years ago. It is the story of a young girl who was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!” The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean.
Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one, didn’t I?” The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said.
Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved.
The story which was adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley, describes precisely how I feel today after experiencing the fervor and enthusiasm that has surrounded the launch of my new book, entitled One Letter at a Time by Rick Hoyt with Todd Civin. One Letter at a Time is the life long story of famed marathoner and triathlete, Rick Hoyt, who together with his equally famous father, Dick Hoyt, makes up the world-renowned duo known as Team Hoyt.
Rick, who is a non-verbal spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy has spent his entire life in a wheel chair unable to control his spastic movements from the neck down. Despite his disability, the younger Hoyt, age 50, has been pushed, pedaled and paddled to the finish line of nearly 1100 races by his 72-year old equally inspiring father, Dick. In addition to being known the world over for their athletic prowess, the Hoyts have become a symbol of the undying love between a father and a son.
Dick and his late wife, Judy, made the decision following Rick’s diagnosis shortly after his birth, to bring him up like all other children and give him the life experiences of a non-disabled person despite the doctors’ recommendations to institutionalize Rick due to the fact that he would never be anything more “than a vegetable”. Fifty years later this world famous “vegetable” lives his life independently, is a college graduate from Boston University with his degree in Special Education, has competed in 30 Boston Marathons and is the 25th member of the Iron Man Hall of Fame in Kona Hawaii; fittingly entering just ahead of his father who was enshrined as number 26. Read the rest of this entry →
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