Speaker 1: This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
Speaker 1: the show where America is the star and the American people.
Speaker 1: Up next, we have another listener's story sent to us
Speaker 1: from Roger Wrench in Iowa. Today, Roger is sharing a
Speaker 1: story about his stepson Stage called the winner who always
Speaker 1: finished last.
Speaker 2: This is the story of the kid who finished last
Speaker 2: every time he ran in the slowest heat with the
Speaker 2: slowest runners, and he was the slowest of the slow
Speaker 2: often coming in several seconds behind the other runners. For
Speaker 2: three years, in track meet after track meet after track meet,
Speaker 2: he finished last. It had not always been so. In
Speaker 2: seventh grade, he was the fastest kid on his cross
Speaker 2: country team and competed with the best runners from the
Speaker 2: other schools. In his last meet, he finished twelfth out
Speaker 2: of one hundred and sixty nine runners, and the other
Speaker 2: eleven ahead of him were all a year older. In
Speaker 2: eighth grade, he loved running and looked forward to getting
Speaker 2: better and faster. Then tragedy struck. A tumor was found
Speaker 2: in the back of his brain. This after a lifelong
Speaker 2: genetic disease had limited his physical activity his whole life.
Speaker 2: Running was the first athletic thing he was able to
Speaker 2: do and now that was being taken away. He endured
Speaker 2: a year and a half of radiation and chemo. Because
Speaker 2: of his rare disease, sometimes the doctors weren't sure how
Speaker 2: to treat him. There were difficult days, including seventeen in
Speaker 2: a row where he was unconscious for most of it
Speaker 2: over the Christmas holiday. The tumor was removed quickly after
Speaker 2: being discovered. He made it through treatment in many months
Speaker 2: of physical therapy. For four years now he's been in remission,
Speaker 2: but cancer left its mark. His radiation and chemo treatment
Speaker 2: stole much of his physical strength, balance, speed, and endurance.
Speaker 2: That seventh grade flier is long gone, but he ran anyway.
Speaker 2: He joined his track team and competed as hard as
Speaker 2: he could. He ran his best every race and improved
Speaker 2: his personal best time. He cheered on his teammates and
Speaker 2: inspired them every time he ran. Though the clock said
Speaker 2: he came in last again and again. Those who know
Speaker 2: him would tell you a much different story. So when
Speaker 2: his mom and I walk Sage out onto the track
Speaker 2: on senior night, we couldn't have been prouder. In the
Speaker 2: bulletin noting his plans after high school graduation were these
Speaker 2: words of his own. In this life, you will experience
Speaker 2: hardship and tribulation, but don't let those life altering experiences
Speaker 2: define you as a person. Write your own story. Defy
Speaker 2: the odds, Sage Helster. Real winners are not the ones
Speaker 2: with the fastest times. They're the ones who keep running
Speaker 2: and always give their best. They never give up. They
Speaker 2: take their tests and make it their testimony. They turn
Speaker 2: their tragedies into triumph. They inspire others to make the
Speaker 2: most of what they have. They believe there is perpose
Speaker 2: us in all of life's challenges, and they do their
Speaker 2: best while cheering others on to greatness. The clock may
Speaker 2: tell one story, but their lives tell another. This is
Speaker 2: the story of a runner who could have quit when
Speaker 2: tragedy struck and never set foot on a track again. Instead,
Speaker 2: he laced up his shoes and endured the humiliation of
Speaker 2: finishing last every time because he loved to run and
Speaker 2: inspire others. Sometimes he wonders what could have been. What
Speaker 2: if he never got cancer? How fast would he be
Speaker 2: able to run? Could he have won some medals and
Speaker 2: gone to state Those questions will always linger in his head.
Speaker 2: But he gave us all with what he had that's
Speaker 2: all any of us can do. Sage has developed others
Speaker 2: gills in life that he's working on, things like music.
Speaker 2: He taught himself to play guitar and recorded some of
Speaker 2: his own songs. He even performed them before his peers.
Speaker 2: He's worked extremely hard to develop that talent with years
Speaker 2: of hard work, and he knows that probably wouldn't have
Speaker 2: happened if it weren't for cancer. His attitude, faith and
Speaker 2: trust in God's purpose for his life has grown by
Speaker 2: leaps and bounds, and he's still running as fast as
Speaker 2: his remaining strength and endurance will take him. Clocks don't
Speaker 2: determine the winners. People do by the way they choose
Speaker 2: to live. They're the ones who keep running and never
Speaker 2: give up no matter what obstacles they face or what
Speaker 2: life throws at them. Sage will keep running his race.
Speaker 2: Let's all follow his example and run our race with perseverance.
Speaker 2: Let's keep doing our best every day. Forget about everyone
Speaker 2: else and stay focused on improving ourselves and getting better
Speaker 2: each day. Let's take what we've been given and make
Speaker 2: the most of it. To all the winners who never finish.
Speaker 2: First Roger.
Speaker 1: And a special thanks to Madison for her work on
Speaker 1: the production of that piece, and a special thanks to
Speaker 1: Roger Wench in Iowa, a listener and a contributor. Thanks
Speaker 1: also to Sage for providing his example write your own story.
Speaker 1: Sage said, defy the odds, and Roger put it right.
Speaker 1: Clocks don't determine winners. People do. And Sage will keep
Speaker 1: running his race. And that's what we all have to
Speaker 1: do in the end, folks, we have to keep running
Speaker 1: our race. Favorite quote on all of this comes from
Speaker 1: one of my heroes, John Wooden, who said about success,
Speaker 1: success is peace of mind, which is a direct result
Speaker 1: of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to
Speaker 1: become the best of which you are capable. And Sage's
Speaker 1: life is a living example. Sage's story, so many of
Speaker 1: us running our own race, maybe not getting the Blue ribbon,
Speaker 1: or running anyway and running for the joy of it.
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