By This is the inspirational story of Matt Miller recovering from a severe accident. Spoiler alert- it has a happy ending! Matt was a premed student at the University of Virginia, and also doing hard training for triathlons. He was riding with some friends on the Blue Ridge parkway when he accidentally swerved into the oncoming lane and had a head-on collision with a car. There happened to be an anesthesiologist at the scene who kept him alive and stable until help arrived and he was evacuated by helicopter to UVa’s hospital in Charlottesville, which happens to a world-class trauma center. There are multiple other “right place at the right time” incidents from here that have this turn out to be a happy outcome, which is where the word grace comes from in the subtitle, while grit refers to Matt’s attitude and effort.
After surviving the initial trauma, which was seriously in doubt at first, Matt began the long arduous process of recovery. He was later accepted to medical school at the excellent University of Pennsylvania. While a medical student, despite their legendary workloads, he decided to squeeze in training for an ironman triathlon. He got the idea that completing one will prove he is fully back. I definitely relate to that idea, I discussed the challenge that proved to me is was “back” after my heart valve replacement here. But in my case I picked a somewhat easier challenge!
Matt is a great guy and his loved ones, the medical staff, and friends, are all wonderful people, so I ended up rooting for him, and was very inspired by the book.
