1
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I'm thrilled to be here today.

2
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I'm actually going to share
something with you

3
00:00:12,931 --> 00:00:15,828
I haven't talked about
probably in more than 10 years.

4
00:00:15,852 --> 00:00:18,876
So bear with me as I take you
through this journey.

5
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When I was 22 years old,

6
00:00:21,021 --> 00:00:24,523
I came home from work,
put a leash on my dog

7
00:00:24,547 --> 00:00:26,301
and went for my usual run.

8
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I had no idea that at that moment,

9
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my life was going to change forever.

10
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While I was preparing my dog for the run,

11
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a man was finishing drinking at a bar,

12
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picked up his car keys, got into a car

13
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and headed south,

14
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or wherever he was.

15
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I was running across the street,

16
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and the only thing
that I actually remember

17
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is feeling like a grenade
went off in my head.

18
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And I remember
putting my hands on the ground

19
00:00:55,824 --> 00:00:57,686
and feeling my life's blood

20
00:00:57,710 --> 00:01:01,138
emptying out of my neck and my mouth.

21
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What had happened is, he ran a red light

22
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and hit me and my dog.

23
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She ended up underneath the car.

24
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I flew out in front of the car,

25
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and then he ran over my legs.

26
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My left leg got caught up
in the wheel well --

27
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spun it around.

28
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The bumper of the car hit my throat,

29
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slicing it open.

30
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I ended up with blunt chest trauma.

31
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Your aorta comes up behind your heart,
it's your major artery --

32
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and it was severed, so my blood
was gurgling out of my mouth.

33
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It foamed, and ... horrible things
were happening to me.

34
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I had no idea what was going on,

35
00:01:44,815 --> 00:01:46,466
but strangers intervened,

36
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kept my heart moving, beating.

37
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I say "moving," because it was quivering,

38
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and they were trying to put
a beat back into it.

39
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Somebody was smart
and put a Bic pen in my neck

40
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to open up my airway,
so I could get some air in there.

41
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And my lung collapsed,

42
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so somebody cut me open
and put a pen in there as well,

43
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to stop that catastrophic
event from happening.

44
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Somehow I ended up at the hospital.

45
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I was wrapped in ice,

46
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and then eventually put
into a drug-induced coma.

47
00:02:22,070 --> 00:02:24,491
Eighteen months later, I woke up.

48
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I was blind, I couldn't speak

49
00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,289
and I couldn't walk.

50
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I was 64 pounds.

51
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The hospital really has no idea
what to do with people like that.

52
00:02:39,196 --> 00:02:41,966
And in fact, they started
to call me a "gomer."

53
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That's another story
we won't even get into.

54
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I had so many surgeries
to put my neck back together,

55
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to repair my heart a few times.

56
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Some things worked, some things didn't.

57
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I had lots of titanium put in me;

58
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cadaver bones,

59
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to try to get my feet
moving the right way.

60
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And I ended up with a plastic nose,

61
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porcelain teeth
and all kinds of other things.

62
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But eventually,
I started to look human again.

63
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But ...

64
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It's hard sometimes
to talk about these things,

65
00:03:16,009 --> 00:03:17,277
so bear with me.

66
00:03:18,193 --> 00:03:20,571
I had more than 50 surgeries.

67
00:03:20,595 --> 00:03:22,196
But who's counting?

68
00:03:22,220 --> 00:03:24,003
(Laughter)

69
00:03:24,027 --> 00:03:27,274
So eventually, the hospital decided
it was time for me to go.

70
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They needed to open up
space for somebody else

71
00:03:30,156 --> 00:03:33,376
that they thought could come back

72
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from whatever they were going through.

73
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Everybody lost faith in me
being able to recover.

74
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So they basically put a map
up on the wall, threw a dart,

75
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and it landed at a senior home,
here in Colorado.

76
00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,639
And I know all of you
are scratching your head:

77
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"A senior citizens' home?

78
00:03:50,914 --> 00:03:53,044
What in the world
are you going to do there?"

79
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But if you think about
all of the skills and talent

80
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that are in this room right now,

81
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that's what a senior home has.

82
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So there were all these skills and talents

83
00:04:02,244 --> 00:04:03,727
that these seniors had.

84
00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,065
The one advantage
they had over most of you

85
00:04:07,089 --> 00:04:08,240
is wisdom,

86
00:04:08,264 --> 00:04:10,454
because they had a long life.

87
00:04:11,010 --> 00:04:13,604
And I needed that wisdom
at that moment in my life.

88
00:04:14,255 --> 00:04:16,051
But imagine what it was like for them

89
00:04:16,075 --> 00:04:17,971
when I showed up at their doorstep.

90
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At that point, I had gained
four pounds, so I was 68 pounds.

91
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I was bald.

92
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I was wearing hospital scrubs.

93
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And somebody donated tennis shoes for me.

94
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And I had a white cane in one hand

95
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and a suitcase full of medical
records in another hand.

96
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So the senior citizens realized

97
00:04:38,298 --> 00:04:40,590
that they needed to have
an emergency meeting.

98
00:04:40,614 --> 00:04:42,376
(Laughter)

99
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So they pulled back
and they were looking at each other,

100
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and they were going, "OK,
what skills do we have in this room?

101
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This kid needs a lot of work."

102
00:04:52,169 --> 00:04:56,978
So they eventually started
matching their talents and skills

103
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to all of my needs.

104
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But one of the first things
they needed to do

105
00:05:01,099 --> 00:05:03,274
was assess what I needed right away.

106
00:05:03,298 --> 00:05:06,437
I needed to figure out how to eat
like a normal human being,

107
00:05:06,461 --> 00:05:09,802
since I'd been eating
through a tube in my chest

108
00:05:09,826 --> 00:05:11,376
and through my veins.

109
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So I had to go
through trying to eat again.

110
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And they went through that process.

111
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And then they had to figure out:

112
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"Well, she needs furniture.

113
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She is sleeping in the corner
of this apartment."

114
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So they went to their storage lockers

115
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,376
and all gathered their extra furniture --

116
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gave me pots and pans, blankets --

117
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everything.

118
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And then the next thing that I needed

119
00:05:36,719 --> 00:05:37,885
was a makeover.

120
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(Laughter)

121
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So out went the green scrubs,

122
00:05:40,949 --> 00:05:43,815
and in came the polyester
and floral prints.

123
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(Laughter)

124
00:05:48,154 --> 00:05:50,262
We're not going to talk
about the hairstyles

125
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they tried to force on me
once my hair grew back.

126
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But I did say no to the blue hair.

127
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(Laughter)

128
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So eventually, what went on is,

129
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they decided that, well,
I need to learn to speak.

130
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You can't be an independent person

131
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if you're not able to speak
and you can't see.

132
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So they figured not being able
to see is one thing,

133
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but they need to get me to talk.

134
00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,376
So while Sally, the office manager,

135
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was teaching me to speak in the day --

136
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it's hard, because when you're a kid,
you take things for granted.

137
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You learn things unconsciously.

138
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But for me, I was an adult
and it was embarrassing,

139
00:06:29,681 --> 00:06:33,583
and I had to learn how to coordinate
my new throat with my tongue

140
00:06:33,607 --> 00:06:36,376
and my new teeth and my lips,

141
00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:38,871
and capture the air and get the word out.

142
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So, I acted like a two-year-old,

143
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and refused to work.

144
00:06:44,052 --> 00:06:46,540
But the men had a better idea.

145
00:06:46,564 --> 00:06:48,886
They were going to make it fun for me.

146
00:06:48,910 --> 00:06:52,685
So they were teaching me
cuss-word Scrabble at night.

147
00:06:52,709 --> 00:06:55,824
(Laughter)

148
00:06:57,012 --> 00:07:00,642
And then, secretly,
how to swear like a sailor.

149
00:07:00,666 --> 00:07:01,679
(Laughter)

150
00:07:01,703 --> 00:07:05,511
I'm going to just leave it
to your imagination

151
00:07:05,535 --> 00:07:08,051
as to what my first words were --

152
00:07:08,075 --> 00:07:09,066
(Laughter)

153
00:07:09,090 --> 00:07:12,067
when Sally finally got
my confidence built.

154
00:07:12,091 --> 00:07:14,280
(Laughter)

155
00:07:14,304 --> 00:07:16,304
So I moved on from there.

156
00:07:16,328 --> 00:07:19,504
And a former teacher
who happened to have Alzheimer's

157
00:07:19,528 --> 00:07:21,859
took on the task of teaching me to write.

158
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The redundancy was actually good for me.

159
00:07:25,597 --> 00:07:27,376
So, we'll just keep moving on.

160
00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,610
(Laughter)

161
00:07:34,269 --> 00:07:36,464
One of the pivotal times for me

162
00:07:36,488 --> 00:07:39,155
was actually learning
to cross the street again

163
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as a blind person.

164
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So close your eyes.

165
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Now imagine you have to cross a street.

166
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You don't know how far that street is,

167
00:07:50,761 --> 00:07:53,376
and you don't know
if you're going straight.

168
00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,959
And you hear cars whizzing back and forth,

169
00:07:56,808 --> 00:07:58,376
and you had a horrible accident

170
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,693
that landed you in this situation.

171
00:08:01,193 --> 00:08:03,747
So there were two obstacles
I had to get through.

172
00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,189
One was post-traumatic stress disorder.

173
00:08:07,832 --> 00:08:11,593
Every time I approached
the corner or the curb,

174
00:08:11,617 --> 00:08:12,904
I would panic.

175
00:08:12,928 --> 00:08:14,729
And the second one

176
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was actually trying to figure out
how to cross that street.

177
00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,286
So one of the seniors just came up to me,

178
00:08:21,310 --> 00:08:24,642
and she pushed me
up to the corner and said,

179
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"When you think it's time to go,
just stick the cane out there.

180
00:08:27,685 --> 00:08:29,512
If it's hit, don't cross the street."

181
00:08:29,536 --> 00:08:35,030
(Laughter)

182
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Made perfect sense.

183
00:08:36,504 --> 00:08:37,640
(Laughter)

184
00:08:37,664 --> 00:08:41,254
But by the third cane
that went whizzing across the road --

185
00:08:41,278 --> 00:08:42,629
(Laughter)

186
00:08:42,653 --> 00:08:45,710
they realized that they needed
to put their resources together,

187
00:08:45,734 --> 00:08:47,204
and they raised funds

188
00:08:47,228 --> 00:08:49,315
so that I could go
to the Braille Institute

189
00:08:49,339 --> 00:08:53,936
and actually gain the skills
to be a blind person,

190
00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:55,958
and also to go get a guide dog,

191
00:08:55,982 --> 00:08:57,352
who transformed my life.

192
00:08:57,855 --> 00:08:59,624
And I was able to return to college

193
00:08:59,648 --> 00:09:03,376
because of the senior citizens
who invested in me,

194
00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,533
and also the guide dog
and skill set I had gained.

195
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,670
Ten years later, I gained my sight back.

196
00:09:09,694 --> 00:09:11,083
Not magically --

197
00:09:11,765 --> 00:09:14,734
I opted in for three surgeries,

198
00:09:14,758 --> 00:09:16,628
and one of them was experimental.

199
00:09:16,652 --> 00:09:18,376
It was actually robotic surgery

200
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,898
that removed a hematoma
from behind my eye.

201
00:09:22,996 --> 00:09:27,825
The biggest change for me
was that the world moved forward,

202
00:09:27,849 --> 00:09:31,891
that there were innovations
and all kinds of new things --

203
00:09:31,915 --> 00:09:33,844
cellphones, laptops,

204
00:09:33,868 --> 00:09:36,515
all these things
that I had never seen before.

205
00:09:36,539 --> 00:09:38,191
And as a blind person,

206
00:09:38,215 --> 00:09:40,734
your visual memory fades,

207
00:09:40,758 --> 00:09:44,776
and is replaced with how you
feel about things

208
00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:46,619
and how things sound

209
00:09:46,643 --> 00:09:48,000
and how things smell.

210
00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:51,886
So one day, I was in my room

211
00:09:51,910 --> 00:09:53,983
and I saw this thing sitting in my room.

212
00:09:54,007 --> 00:09:55,376
I thought it was a monster,

213
00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,515
so I was walking around it.

214
00:09:57,539 --> 00:09:59,541
And I go, "I'm just going to touch it."

215
00:09:59,565 --> 00:10:00,947
And I touched it and I went,

216
00:10:00,971 --> 00:10:03,089
"Oh my God, it's a laundry basket."

217
00:10:04,232 --> 00:10:07,114
(Laughter)

218
00:10:08,117 --> 00:10:12,153
Everything is different
when you're a sighted person,

219
00:10:12,177 --> 00:10:13,839
because you take that for granted.

220
00:10:13,863 --> 00:10:17,874
But when you're blind,
you have the tactile memory for things.

221
00:10:18,715 --> 00:10:21,264
The biggest change for me
was looking down at my hands

222
00:10:21,288 --> 00:10:24,108
and seeing that I'd lost
10 years of my life.

223
00:10:25,201 --> 00:10:28,260
I thought that time
had stood still for some reason

224
00:10:28,284 --> 00:10:30,118
and moved on for family and friends.

225
00:10:30,142 --> 00:10:31,626
But when I looked down,

226
00:10:31,650 --> 00:10:34,220
I realized that time
marched on for me, too,

227
00:10:34,244 --> 00:10:35,968
and that I needed to get caught up.

228
00:10:35,992 --> 00:10:37,467
So I got going on it.

229
00:10:39,067 --> 00:10:42,987
We didn't have words like "crowdsourcing"
and "radical collaboration"

230
00:10:43,011 --> 00:10:44,376
when I had my accident.

231
00:10:44,753 --> 00:10:46,516
But the concept held true --

232
00:10:46,540 --> 00:10:48,953
people working with people to rebuild me;

233
00:10:48,977 --> 00:10:51,786
people working with people
to reeducate me.

234
00:10:51,810 --> 00:10:53,627
I wouldn't be standing here today

235
00:10:53,651 --> 00:10:57,376
if it wasn't for extreme
radical collaboration.

236
00:10:57,400 --> 00:10:58,694
Thank you so much.

237
00:10:58,718 --> 00:11:02,201
(Applause)