'What do you want to write about Don for?' one of Don's oldest and best friends asked me when I interviewed him for this book. 'There's nothing special about Don.'

I volunteered to help Don tell his story partly because he is the most special person I have ever met - and, as a journalist of 30 years, I've met some special people.

Don stands out.

He does not stand out because he can pick up a dime off the floor, throw a football or play table tennis. Nor because he can recite chapter and verse for volumes of sports trivia. Nor because he finds time to volunteer for community service projects. Nor because he is charismatic, funny, energetic, engaging, optimistic . . .

He stands out because he makes other people look past the incredibly special challenge of being born without hands or feet and see him as just another person. He stands out because despite the cruel joke of being born with the skills of a professional athlete but without the tools to achieve his potential; he still competes in sports as just another one of the guys in a pick-up game. He stands out because he just another one of the crew working the American Legion beer tent during his town's annual celebration.

It's a great enigma, but there's another one about Don.

Imagine the incredibly bad luck of being born without hands or feet; and then match that to the incredibly good luck of being born to a family and in a community perfectly set to raise Don to his full potential. It would be easy to curse or deny God for the injustice that brought a baby into the world so deformed, but at the same time it is easy to stand in awe of the power of faith - in his family, in his community and in Don — that has brought him so far.

The other reason I volunteered to help with this is that I consider Don a good friend. I hope others reading this will or do like him as well.

He's not perfect, but then which of us is? Brian