Within 20 minutes of landing at Vegas' airport, Dave Bergman (former MLB player ! who is helping with the camp) is telling me how excited he is that I am here and that he has heard all about me.  We take a shuttle to the resort--Hawaiian paradise type place with two pools, outdoor lounge chairs and a couple beds, waterfalls, bonfires and completely open to the outside once you enter the main door.  I got in around 1:30 or so and started exploring the place with a couple who rode over with Dave and I.

So I wander around until the opening reception.  There are a few guys hanging out at the top of the stairs above our open space outdoors, including Bert Campaneris and Vince Coleman.  Natalie Niekro, Joe's daughter who runs the foundation in honor of her father, greets us all and invites us for drinks.

As people start standing around the bar getting their first rounds, in walks George Brett and Ozzie Smith, our "Team Managers" for camp, each are members of Major League Baseball's Hall Of Fame (mindblowing!).  I say hi to both of them, but can't think of anything beyond baseball to say to them yet so I go back to mingling.

When we all sat down for Natalie's presentation, she introduced me to the room and briefly described my story.  She presented a video and then it was back to more drinks and appetizers.  George Brett started talking to me and was blown away with my story-- because his son had a blood clot removed from his brain as a 7 month old baby.  As everyone is talking and sharing stories, it's getting towards 9, which is midnight my time.  It's 11 for George in Kansas City and no one really had dinner.  He says that he is hungry, a couple other guys chime in that are here for the fantasy camp and George Brett invites me along as well.

We sit at the hotel restaurant for a couple hours, everyone sharing stories.  George talking about playing golf with Sean Connery, Sandy Koufax and Whitey Herzog,   along with a recollection about a girl who came up to him at a boxing match, asked him if he was George Brett and the moment he turned his head he missed the KO.

Sitting there, having a 2-hour dinner with George Brett and these two guys who have known him for years, George says that we are all part of the team now.  A lot of these stories are only told amongst baseball players.  We kept shooting off stories with each other and, at the end of the dinner, George takes the check.  George Brett invites me to dinner and pays for my dinner.  So cool.  And this is only the first night.

If all of that only happened within a 5 hour window on the first night, I can't even imagine what the rest of the week will bring.  I'll keep everyone posted though, but for now I got to get to breakfast.  Can't be late...even if George says that he won't roll in until 7:30 for the 7 AM breakfast.

The life you lead dictates the events you encounter across your life, but it’s the perspective that you embrace which dictates the determination that carries you through your life.  That is ultimately what determines the path you take.

Each of us will be successful in our own way.  We always strive for something.  That is our innate motivation for living, our perpetual drive for continuing each and every day.  We will always find reason to be successful.  So does that mean we find satisfaction in the challenges we took or solace in taking the conservative route?  That’s an individual choice, but I think the way I live my life is pretty clear.

There are triggers in each stage of our lives that spark our determination.  Again, it’s how we embrace each catalyst that determines how long the spark lasts.  Does it gain momentum and fuel a flame of desire?  Or does it flicker away and get snuffed out?

My life has been marked by an intensely powerful catalyst…so powerful, in fact, that it left me completely immobilized when it struck.  I was 3 years old and I was stricken by a ruptured brain aneurysm and a stroke.  I survived, but my parents and my doctors had no idea how significantly I would be impaired.  Even though it was their decision to put me through physical therapy, it was my choice whether I overcome my disability or let it paralyze me.

My right side is physically and neurologically damaged.  It’s permanent, and the nerve damage causes a streaming numbness across the right side of my body very similar to when your foot is falling asleep or coming out of that state.  My motor control and dexterity cannot move with fluid movement.  Given this, my balance and physical strength has always been impaired on my right side.  The cerebral hemorrhage caused me to lose peripheral vision in my right eye and left me with a propensity for stuttering due to the location of the bleed.

As devastating as this sounds, it’s the only way I have known my body to be.  A disability is an individual limitation.  Some people live with seasonal allergies.  Others may have to wear glasses or contacts.  This is simply my challenge to overcome, and that’s exactly what I did.