Everyone in life deals with adversity.  It’s simply a fact of life.  However, thankfully, very few of us will experience the kind of  adversity that Dan Caro went through.

Dan Caro is someone I’ve been wanting to introduce you to for almost a year.  My husband, son and I met Dan in April 2009 and we all found his story to be a very inspirational one.  It’s a story I’ve been wanting to share with you since the day we first heard Dan speak.

You see…

At the young age of two Dan went into his garage to retrieve a toy.  A spark from the water heater ignited some gasoline and Dan was caught in the fireball explosion.  Dan was severely burned with third degree burns over most of his tiny body.  Doctors gave him basically no chance of survival.

The pain was excruciating, so excruciating in fact, that his parents prayed that God take him back home so he would no longer suffer.  But it seemed that God had other plans for Dan and Dan survived.

As you can imagine, surviving wasn’t easy.  Dan’s fingers were so badly burned that they fell off when the medical staff changed his bandages.  He was badly disfigured.  Most of his skin was burned away, as was much of his face.  Dan went through years and years of painful surgeries and spent a considerable amount of time  in burn units.  But once much of the physical trauma healed the emotional trauma continued.  Dan was rejected by members of his community.  He was called a monster by both children and adults.

Dan had developed a resilient and healthy attitude.  He wasn’t going to let the actions of others keep him down.  He determined at a very young age to set high standards and goals for himself.

One of his first goals was to learn how to tie his shoes.  As you can imagine tying your shoes would be a very difficult task to do without fingers.  But Dan isn’t a quitter.  He spent years learning to tie his shoe laces.  In fact, Dan said that is one of his biggest accomplishments in life and the one he is most proud of.  The day I met Dan I felt a great amount of gratitude that tying laces was something I could easily do.

Once Dan learned to tie his shoes he decided he needed a new challenge.  He wanted to play a musical instrument.  The violin naturally seemed out, but the drums inspired him. Using an elastic band to hold the drum sticks to his arms Dan learned to not only play the drums, but he learned to play them well.  He is now recognized as one of New Orleans premier drummers.

Dan is now a public speaker whose inspirational messages is in high demand.  When he speaks he encourages others to not just work to overcome their adversity but to use it as a force to reach for more.

No doubt you’ll find Dan’s story inspiring.  And you can read about it in his book called The Gift of Fire: How I Made Adversity Work for Me.

I’ll leave you with a video clip of Dan playing the drums and a few questions to ponder…

• How has adversity helped you become a better person?
• How can you use the adversity you have experienced to help make the world a better place?
• How can you inspire others to reach for the best within themselves, despite the challenges?
• How can you live a life without limits?

Click here to find an archive of the Life Without Limits stories.

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.” ~ Richard Bach