jamison364
September 9, 2008, 12:37 PM
I never considered myself unique, but people are constantly telling me, "you are a miracle."
To me, I was just an ordinary "guy" with realistic goals and big dreams. I was a 19-ye ar-old
student at the University of Texas and well on my way toward fulfilling my "big dream" of one
day becoming an orthopedic surgeon. On the night of February 17, 1981 I was studying for
an Organic Chemistry test at the library with Sharon, my girlfriend of three years. Sharon had
asked me to drive her back to her dormitory as it was getting quite late. We got into my car,
not realizing that just getting into a car would never quite be the same for me again. I
quickly noticed that my gas gauge was registered on empty so I pulled into a nearby
convenience store to buy $2.00 worth of gas. "I'll be back in two minutes," I yelled at Sharon
as I closed the door. But instead, those two minutes changed my life forever. Entering the
convenience store was like entering the twilight zone. On the outside I was a healthy,
athletic, pre-med student, but on the inside I was just another statistic of a violent crime.
I thought I was entering an empty store, but suddenly I realized it was not empty at all.
Three robbers were in the process of committing a robbery and my entrance into the store
caught them by surprise. One of the criminals immediately shoved a .38 caliber handgun to my
head, ordered me to the cooler, pushed me down on the floor, and pumped a bullet into the back
of my head - execution style. He obviously thought I was dead because he did not shoot me
again. The trio of thieves finished robbing the store and left calmly. 。 Meanwhile,
Sharon wondered why I had not returned. After seeing the three men leave the store she really
began to worry as I was the last person she saw entering the store. She quickly went inside to
look for me, but saw no one-only an almost empty cash register containing one check and
several pennies. Quickly she ran down each aisle shouting, "Mike, Mike!" Just then the
attendant appeared from the back of the store shouting, "Lady, get down on the floor. I've
just been robbed and shot at!" Sharon quickly dropped to the floor screaming, "Have you
seen my boyfriend? He has auburn hair." The man did not reply but went back to the cooler
where he found me choking on my vomit. The attendant quickly cleaned my mouth and then called
for the police and an ambulance. Sharon was in shock. She was beginning to understand that
I was hurt, but she could not begin to comprehend or imagine the severity of my injury.
When the police arrived they immediately called the homicide division as they did not think I
would survive and the paramedic reported that she had never seen a person so severely wounded
survive. At 1:30 a.m. my parents who lived in Houston, were awakened by a telephone call from
Brackenridge Hospital advising them to come to Austin as soon as possible for they feared I
would not make it through the night. But I did make it through the night and early in the
morning the neurosurgeon decided to operate. However, he quickly informed my family and Sharon
that my chances of surviving the surgery were only 40/60. If this were not bad enough, the
neurosurgeon further shocked my family by telling them what life would be like for me if I
beat the odds and survived. He said I probably would never walk, talk, or be able to
understand even simple commands. I ofetn buy clothesfrom http://www.lowestmall.com for my
boyfriend My family was hoping and praying to hear even the slightest bit of encouragement
from that doctor. Instead, his pessimistic words gave my family no reason to believe that I
would ever again be a productive member of society. But once again I beat the odds and
survived the three and a half hours of surgery. Granted, I still could not talk, my
entire<
To me, I was just an ordinary "guy" with realistic goals and big dreams. I was a 19-ye ar-old
student at the University of Texas and well on my way toward fulfilling my "big dream" of one
day becoming an orthopedic surgeon. On the night of February 17, 1981 I was studying for
an Organic Chemistry test at the library with Sharon, my girlfriend of three years. Sharon had
asked me to drive her back to her dormitory as it was getting quite late. We got into my car,
not realizing that just getting into a car would never quite be the same for me again. I
quickly noticed that my gas gauge was registered on empty so I pulled into a nearby
convenience store to buy $2.00 worth of gas. "I'll be back in two minutes," I yelled at Sharon
as I closed the door. But instead, those two minutes changed my life forever. Entering the
convenience store was like entering the twilight zone. On the outside I was a healthy,
athletic, pre-med student, but on the inside I was just another statistic of a violent crime.
I thought I was entering an empty store, but suddenly I realized it was not empty at all.
Three robbers were in the process of committing a robbery and my entrance into the store
caught them by surprise. One of the criminals immediately shoved a .38 caliber handgun to my
head, ordered me to the cooler, pushed me down on the floor, and pumped a bullet into the back
of my head - execution style. He obviously thought I was dead because he did not shoot me
again. The trio of thieves finished robbing the store and left calmly. 。 Meanwhile,
Sharon wondered why I had not returned. After seeing the three men leave the store she really
began to worry as I was the last person she saw entering the store. She quickly went inside to
look for me, but saw no one-only an almost empty cash register containing one check and
several pennies. Quickly she ran down each aisle shouting, "Mike, Mike!" Just then the
attendant appeared from the back of the store shouting, "Lady, get down on the floor. I've
just been robbed and shot at!" Sharon quickly dropped to the floor screaming, "Have you
seen my boyfriend? He has auburn hair." The man did not reply but went back to the cooler
where he found me choking on my vomit. The attendant quickly cleaned my mouth and then called
for the police and an ambulance. Sharon was in shock. She was beginning to understand that
I was hurt, but she could not begin to comprehend or imagine the severity of my injury.
When the police arrived they immediately called the homicide division as they did not think I
would survive and the paramedic reported that she had never seen a person so severely wounded
survive. At 1:30 a.m. my parents who lived in Houston, were awakened by a telephone call from
Brackenridge Hospital advising them to come to Austin as soon as possible for they feared I
would not make it through the night. But I did make it through the night and early in the
morning the neurosurgeon decided to operate. However, he quickly informed my family and Sharon
that my chances of surviving the surgery were only 40/60. If this were not bad enough, the
neurosurgeon further shocked my family by telling them what life would be like for me if I
beat the odds and survived. He said I probably would never walk, talk, or be able to
understand even simple commands. I ofetn buy clothesfrom http://www.lowestmall.com for my
boyfriend My family was hoping and praying to hear even the slightest bit of encouragement
from that doctor. Instead, his pessimistic words gave my family no reason to believe that I
would ever again be a productive member of society. But once again I beat the odds and
survived the three and a half hours of surgery. Granted, I still could not talk, my
entire<