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True stories of people who kept going when everything was against them. Nothing is made up: every fact comes with a verbatim quote from its source.
3 stories · 118 verified facts
Wilma Rudolph
At five, Wilma Rudolph contracted polio and wore a leg brace until she was 12. Years of treatment and daily massages helped her walk again, and at the 1960 Olympics in Rome she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad.
Helen Keller
At 19 months, Helen Keller was left blind and deaf by an illness. Her teacher Anne Sullivan spelled words into her hand, and in 1904 Keller graduated from Radcliffe, the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Stephen Hawking
At 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and doctors gave him two years to live. He returned to his work, predicted that black holes emit radiation and lived to the age of 76.