As a fifth grader in Detroit, Benjamin Carson was considered the dumbest kid in the class. Read how his mother and a plan of action turned Ben into a world famous surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

On Memorial Day, May 27, 1995, actor Christopher Reeve was thrown headfirst from his horse during a jumping competition. His 215 pound body rammed his head straight down onto a jumping rail, and in a instant, he was a quadrapeligic. Several important benefits may emerge from his accident. His leadership led to a big push in spinal cord injury research and is challenged the long-held belief that spinal cord injury is irreversible. Read about some of the challenges Christopher faced.

Actress Suzanne Somers' early life was very difficult. Her father was a drunken, violent man, at age 18 she became pregnant, she married her boyfriend, divorced him soon after and spent several years as a single mother. She took any modeling job she could find and finally got a break with the TV show Three's Company. However, she found out, stardom can be fleeting. Read her story.

Roger Crawford was born with all four limbs deformed. He never thought of himself as handicapped, however. "My preferred term," he says, "is inconvenienced."

Do you have an ideal job? Believe it is possible to find it? Read how Tom Kelley went from being laid off to finding his ideal position.

Jackie Pflug survived being shot in the back of the head in 1985 by hijackers on EgyptAir flight 648. Jackie made herself lay without moving for five hours to avoid being shot again. Everyone thought she was dead, even the ambulance crew that came to remove the bodies.

When someone in your life is stricken with a debilitating illness, you can either passively accept it, or actively do something about it. Nancy Linday, former champion road runner, chose to make the most of her mother Sarah's suffering from Alzheimer's disease by engaging her mother's mind and motivation.

Tom Peterson worked for many years to build a solid business selling television sets, stereo systems, and home appliances. When a bad business decision forced Tom out of business, he had a choice....Read how he coped.

Skip Wilkins a lean, tan, physically fit, self-confident athlete sitting in a wheel chair tells his story of how, at age 17, he broke his neck in a water skiing accident.

How well or how poorly a person reacts to disruptive change boils down to an important difference in people. That difference is one's answer to the question "Who is basically responsible for the way my life goes?"