Their story starts in a hospital in Winchester, MA. It starts in 1962. It starts in the maternity ward, where Judy Hoyt gives birth to baby Rick. And it starts in tragedy.

Judy and Dick, her husband, endured the anguish of an abnormal delivery. As his head crowned, it became frighteningly clear that something was terribly wrong. The umbilical cord had become wrapped around Rick’s neck, cutting off the flow of oxygen to his brain. Despite the best efforts of obstetricians Judy and Dick were sentenced to endure the devastating reality that their precious son could not move his limbs and showed few signs of being able to live a life of any kind of quality. Neo-natal specialists advised Judy and Dick to prepare for the worst. There is nothing going on in Rick’s brain, they said; his life will be short, they said, better put him in an institution so that at least he would get round-the-clock care, they chillingly said. But if this is a story that begins in tragedy, it is also laced with hope. Because, Judy and Dick were not content with that diagnosis.