Third Time Lucky: How Ben Shows Us the Way

"Third Time Lucky is raw emotion. It will make you laugh and make you cry. An honest, compelling, sometimes painful, but mostly uplifting story that reflects the shared reality of families all over the world."

- Connie Laurin-Bowie, Executive Director, Inclusion International

"This book is an eye-opener ... and an important contribution to the on-going discussion about how society supports and includes people with a disability and their families."

- Ken Pike, Disability and Human Rights Advocate

"Mrs. George, we have a problem. You have a very sick baby. He may not live the day."

No parent should ever hear these words, and yet they were only the beginning. Born with multiple disabilities, Ben was just hours old and forced to fight for his life; it hardly seemed fair. His parents were told only of a bleak future for their son and were then left on their own to deal with all of his problems. Third Time Lucky: How Ben shows us the way is their story of learning to cope with never-ending emotional and physical exhaustion, a task so daunting no one really understood just how close they were to falling apart. Most days, survival was all they could hope for.

Despite being told Ben might never walk, or talk, or go to school, Mike and Jan were determined to unleash the smart, social, loving boy who was trapped deep inside a spastic body. They saw him as a real person, not a clinical statistic. Through their pain, they developed a oneness few couples ever come to know. Graced with angels throughout their journey, they never gave up, navigating mountains of obstacles while battling public indifference.

Third Time Lucky: How Ben shows us the way reinforces the miracle and fragility of human life and is an inspiration to those who have been told, "There's nothing anyone can do to help you!"