Bill is a college professor at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. He teaches, among other courses, Microbiology. As I've already had the class and been graded, and I won't have him for any other classes, there is no conflict of interest in my sharing this story.
Bill is my hero for the following reason: In the fall of 2008 he had the lower portion of his left leg removed due to complications from diabetes. This is a fairly common issue with diabetics (my wife's cousin also had the same operation done and as I am a diabetic, I take great care of my feet). Bill came back to work at the school and taught the spring semester of 2009. He hasn't stopped running since.
I know that his ambition was to run a 5K in the Fall of 2009, but I don't know if he did. What I do know is that he has allowed the students to ask him about the operation and answers all questions with a grace and dignity that I find inspiring.
When he wears shorts, he has a "sock" that he puts over the mechanical knee, and most of these socks are humorous in nature.
The second reason that Bill is a hero is that he worked on a way to use stale beer (and it must be stale) to re-mediate certain types of pollution.
Submitted by Anonymous
We've all had people in our lives who have made a positive impact on us. A parent or grandparent, a sibling who was there for us, or maybe even just a guy who shines shoes for a living? Whoever they are, tell us their story so they can inspire us even more.
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