Douglas R. Heir

On Father’s Day in 1978, Douglas R. Heir was working as a lifeguard when he noticed a child needed help. He dove into the pool, struck his head on the bottom, and broke his neck; he has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. Heir recalls that he went through all the stages of depression. “The first was denial. Then I thought, ‘Why me?’ After that I was terribly depressed. I couldn’t deal with it and considered suicide.” He persevered, however, and struggled to build up his arm muscles, an effort that paid off when he won medal after medal in the field events at national, world, and Paralympic Games competitions. One of the world’s greatest wheelchair athletes, he has won more than 300 gold medals. His picture appeared on Wheaties boxes and a story about his life was published in Reader’s Digest. “In life,” he says, “there are 10,000 things you can do. When you are disabled, there are maybe 2,000 of these that are impossible. You can cry about the 2,000 or look forward to the eight.” Heir has also served as an injury attorney in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, president of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, and a motivational speaker.