Don’t call it a Cannonball (but it is)

So this is my 2nd full Cannonball.  I did a half in CBR 7, and finished my review for my 52nd book for CBR8 on New Year’s Eve.  I’m not sure what happened this year, but I’m super early with my 52nd book!

Anyway, my final book last year was suggested by my niece, and it was a meaningful book (The BFG), so I wanted my Cannonball book to be a meaningful one this year.  I was in the middle of a few books, and I was struggling to find one that fit the bill.  Then, in the middle of October, my work had a Diversity and Inclusion day, and the topic was disabilities.  They got Eric LeGrand to speak for the event.  I didn’t know who he was before that day, even though I like to watch college football.  His story was sad, positive, funny, and inspirational.  At the end, he did some Q&A, and offhandedly mentioned his book.  I went on my Amazon app immediately and bought the Kindle version.  So here we go…

Eric LeGrand was a Rutgers football player who became injured in a bone-crunching hit in 2010.  He aimed for a player with his shoulder, but the player got wrapped up and Eric ended up running into him directly with his helmet.  The impact severed his C3/C4 vertebrae, and severed (I think severed, if not gravely injured) his spinal cord.  He was instantly paralyzed, and mostly unable to breathe.

That’s literally only one chapter in his book though.  He starts out by filling us in on his history of playing football as a kid, and all the great people he had surrounding him.  His mom sounds like an AMAZING woman, and his aunt, uncle, and sister sound pretty great too.  His coach at Rutgers treated him as family, and kept up with him weekly.  Eric talks about all the people who supported him and kept his spirits up.  I’m not all that interested in so-called inspirational stories, but damn this was a good one.  He’s so upbeat and positive, you can’t help but think that he’s totally going to walk someday.