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A Measure of Endurance: The Unlikely Triumph of Steven Sharp
Now in paperback, this book records the remarkable, heartwarming story of a courageous teenage boy who, after being gravely injured while using a farm machine, takes on its powerful manufacturer and wins.
Steven Sharp was a hardworking, energetic sixteen-year-old, growing up happily in a tiny farming community in the eastern Oregon high desert. His family was his harbor. Nothing pleased him more than the outdoor life, fending for himself in the nearby mountains. In the last hour of the last day of a summer job on a local ranch, his life was changed forever when a huge baler suddenly and mysteriously turned itself on and severed both his arms. Slipping in and out of consciousness and stumbling through a field, he followed a fence to a nearby house. Soon he was on an airplane and hoping time was on his side.
His recover was amazing. He maintained his optimism and zest for living and returned to school, joking to reassure his classmates on what could have been an awkward first day back. Eventually, he was back in his beloved mountains, hunting and fishing with the hospital’s prosthetics and his own rigged-up rifle compensating for his missing arms.
He was always convinced that the machine had malfunctioned, but had no intention to seek redress―farm life has its risks and compensations. By a quirk of fate, however, a friend recalled a notice in a three-year-old magazine and he learned that others had been injured while using the same kind of machine. How, with the help of a brilliant and idealistic trial lawyer named Bill Manning―whose commitment to Steven seemed something of a completion of his own spiritual journey―Steven took on the multinational, multibillion-dollar company, withstood their counterattack, and emerged triumphant.
A Measure of Endurance is gripping, poignant, and truly unforgettable.
Steven Sharp was a hardworking, energetic sixteen-year-old, growing up happily in a tiny farming community in the eastern Oregon high desert. His family was his harbor. Nothing pleased him more than the outdoor life, fending for himself in the nearby mountains. In the last hour of the last day of a summer job on a local ranch, his life was changed forever when a huge baler suddenly and mysteriously turned itself on and severed both his arms. Slipping in and out of consciousness and stumbling through a field, he followed a fence to a nearby house. Soon he was on an airplane and hoping time was on his side.
His recover was amazing. He maintained his optimism and zest for living and returned to school, joking to reassure his classmates on what could have been an awkward first day back. Eventually, he was back in his beloved mountains, hunting and fishing with the hospital’s prosthetics and his own rigged-up rifle compensating for his missing arms.
He was always convinced that the machine had malfunctioned, but had no intention to seek redress―farm life has its risks and compensations. By a quirk of fate, however, a friend recalled a notice in a three-year-old magazine and he learned that others had been injured while using the same kind of machine. How, with the help of a brilliant and idealistic trial lawyer named Bill Manning―whose commitment to Steven seemed something of a completion of his own spiritual journey―Steven took on the multinational, multibillion-dollar company, withstood their counterattack, and emerged triumphant.
A Measure of Endurance is gripping, poignant, and truly unforgettable.
- GenresNonfictionCrime
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 25, 2020
Absolutely riveting!
April 4, 2020
I would have enjoyed the book more if they had stuck the Steven's story more and not the court case.
June 26, 2008
A bit slow in parts but a wonderful reminder of the strength of character we can possess.
February 9, 2013
This young man lost both his arms in a farming accident; how he both literally and figuratively rebuilds his life is truly amazing!
February 12, 2016
Check out my review...http://shannonsbookbag.blogspot.com/2...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews