In a world where despair so often consumes the soul and people escape into realms of fantasy and addiction, it is the unusual person who rises from misfortune and becomes an example for others to emulate. Anthony Risoli, the hero of this book, is such a person. He's a confused young man with a troubled family background. Many of us choose some path of least resistance to escape such conditions-like alcohol, drugs, and deceit. Anthony was headed down that road when he nearly lost his life in a catastrophic motorcycle accident. After two weeks in a coma, he regained consciousness in a hospital only to discover that, in addition to other severe injuries, his right hand had been amputated. Would it mark the end of his life, or a beginning?

On the journey that follows, he encounters physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges that are the daily bread of every sentient being: Loss is built into the blueprint of life. How we cope with it is up to each of us. "I hope," writes Judy Andreas of this hard-hitting and illuminating volume, "that Anthony's story will inspire you the way that it has inspired me." Accompany this young man, then, as he fights his way back from a near-death experience and the loss of a hand, as he confronts profound emotional and physical suffering on his bumpy road to recovery, and as he fashions his own redemption by helping others find theirs.