A luck converging on an airplane brought a world-class skydiver and inspirational keynoter to Steamboat Springs Middle School on Tuesday. As Steamboat Springs seventh-grader Taylor Dillard rode on a cloud national from Mexico at April, he found himself sitting next to Dana Bowman. As he took his seat, he noticed Bowman’s legs - two bionic limbs, one unavailable below the knee and one just above. Dillard asked about Bowman’s singular legs, and as the two began talking, Bowman showed Dillard videos of his experiences firmament diving, scuba diving and giving motivational speeches.
"I deliberating that was undeniably cool," Dillard said. "I asked if it was doable for him to come to my school. He said anything was possible." On Tuesday, Bowman emphasized the liveliness of possibilities as he said, "It’s a mirage come true. I’m here.
" Bowman presented students with an hour-long offering about his while with the Golden Knights, the Army’s parachute team, and the 1994 catastrophe that liberal him without his discredit legs. Doing a high-risk maneuver, Bowman and his accessory collided in mid-air at a combined hastiness of 300 miles per hour. The smash severed Bowman’s legs; his consort did not survive. Less than a year after the accident, Bowman re-enlisted in the Army and was jumping again. Since that time, he has made more than 1,000 jumps, bringing his thorough to more than 3,000 in his lifetime.
He also has continued to scuba dive, has appeared in a Nike commercial and has earned pilot’s licenses for airplanes and helicopters. He has started a nationwide motivational speaking campaign, appeared on more than 250 TV shows, has vocal to groups of 150 astronauts and travels more than 100 days a year. His missive in his presentations is that "It’s not the disability, it’s the ability.
" "We have to do the best with what we have," Bowman told the students. Maintaining connections Since Dillard’s opening encounter with Bowman, he and his mother, Shannon Dillard, have stayed in get near using Facebook. When the term came for Bowman to stopover the school, Shannon Dillard helped tabulate and, with facilitate from friends, supply Bowman’s trip.
He stayed at the Dillards’ domicile and waived his uninterrupted speaking remuneration for the midriff coach group. "It’s approving for them to be exposed to someone who has been through as much as he has and has vanquish it," Shannon Dillard said. The tie with Bowman also has troubled her son, she said. "He’s starting to spotlight now," she said. "It’s made a big nature for him.
" Taylor Dillard said he also has set his sights at keeping his grades high, because if he does, his mom said he may be able to fall upon Bowman at his digs unlikely Fort Worth, Texas. Bowman also is making plans to coming to Steamboat after the snow melts, as the case may be to exhibit a c bistro and disembarkation in cover-up of students. In the meantime, Bowman radical the halfway point equip students with a challenge.
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