'Miracle person' wants to stay in the swim
Marcus Higgins' turning point came at age 8.
Hit by a car while riding his bicycle, he wasn't expected to live. When he awoke from a six-month coma, he wasn't expected to walk. But at his father's urging, Higgins decided to try his hardest to rebuild his life.
"The only thing that made me want to continue living is that my father kept telling me I could do anything I wanted to do," Higgins said.
"I had to learn everything all over again," said Higgins, speaking with the halting speech that is one of the many physical remnants of his traumatic brain injury.
Higgins learned to walk again with the help of his mother. Since then, he's learned many other living skills that allow him to live in a home by himself, with the help of round-the-clock aides.
"I'm just a miracle person to be alive," said Higgins, 55. "At least that's what the doctors say." Higgins is a standout chess player, beating almost everyone he plays. He writes and acts in plays. He exercises regularly.
The people close to him say he is an inspiration.
"He can be passionate at times about everything and anything," said Keri Acosta, one of Higgins' independent living aides. "Sometimes I can come and not be in a good mood and he cheers me up."
Higgins tries to swim every day at a pool run by Easter Seals. He has trouble taking part in lap swimming because there is a limited time when that activity is available.
He's hoping Book of Dreams readers will help him buy a membership at the YMCA facilities so he can lap swim more frequently and have access to more exercise equipment. He's also hoping to meet more friends at the YMCA since his best friend recently moved to the East Coast.
What does he like about the swimming? It's simple, he said.
"I go down for a stroke and then I come up for air," he said.