Dick and Rick Hoyt
For the second Amazing People Monday I wanted to write about Dick and Rick Hoyt. This amazing father/son duo is an inspiration to read about. The two have completed in over a thousand races! This pair is amazing! The son, Rick, was born with spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and doctors gave little hope that he would be able to live any kind of normal life. Many doctors thought he had no brain function going on. Well thankfully doctors are not always right. As it turns out Rick Hoyt is very smart and a huge fan of sports. As a hockey lover I have to say I appreciate that his first words were "Go Bruins!" because of Lord Stanley's Cup. The process so that Rick can speak requires him to spell out each word through a computer system designed by Tufts University. Since all of this Rick graduated from Boston University with a degree in Special Education. Talk about an inspiration! I am in the process of finishing my undergraduate degree and let me say I am inspired by Rick. What an awesome guy! According to their website Rick initially wanted to join in a run that was a support run for a paralyzed lacrosse player. I feel like he just has a heart of gold. Rick has done even more than this but you can research for yourself!
Dick is incredible too. He served the United States of America for thirty seven years! On top of this Dick is very involved in his son's life. He has never believed the doctors who said Rick could not do things so many years ago. Dick has become a runner and an extremely impressive athlete in order to help Rick in meeting his goals and dreams. Dick pushes and pulls Rick in the marathons, iron man races and others. What an awesome thing. I can only imagine that doing those races together has bonded them in a amazing way. Dick has truly changed his life in order to help Rick in accomplishing racing goals. According to their website Dick was not a long distance runner at all before Rick inspired him to do so.
