- dean@deanottospeaking.com
A keynote designed for organizations navigating pressure, change, adversity, or growth.
On a peaceful morning ride in Charlotte, Dean was struck by a truck and left paralyzed from the waist down.
Doctors gave him a 2 percent chance of ever walking again.
But belief; the practiced, disciplined kind does unbelievable things.
Dean’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Matt McGirt, wasn’t the type to get involved with patients beyond the OR.
Until Dean asked him to run a half marathon one year after the crash.
Matt said yes.
Not because it was logical.
But because belief is contagious.
Dean didn’t know who hit him that day.
But he prayed for the driver on the pavement.
He forgave him before ever knowing his name.
One year later, that driver, Will, stood at the starting line of the same half marathon.
Because belief doesn’t just turn survivors into leaders.
It turns strangers into teammates
Dean crossed the finish line at 1:59:55.
But Will hadn’t finished yet.
So Dean and Matt went back for him.
The three of them; surgeon, patient, driver crossed together.
Because belief doesn’t go alone.
It brings people with it.