A high-energy, cut-to-the-chase problem solver, Rubio was active as trial advocate, litigator and negotiator on behalf of clients at his law practice in Upper Darby, PA. He was physically active, too, with his favorite activities including rock climbing, skydiving, whitewater rafting, and cycling. Just-married (17 days), he was on his way to his obstetrician/gynecologist wife’s graduation ceremony when everything changed in an instant: A negligent driver strayed from her lane and crashed into Rubio’s motorcycle (then into another car and the guardrail), sending him airborne. He sustained multiple serious injuries that left him in a coma for 13 days, awakening with virtually no memory of the accident or its aftermath.

It’s a possibility most of us can’t even begin to imagine: You go to bed feeling unwell, and awaken 2 ½ months later to discover that all four of your limbs have been amputated: that your life as an active husband, parent, coach and neighbor is forever changed.

This is the reality that faced 36-year-old Clark Deardorff of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, when he regained awareness in September 2017 at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, following an induced coma.

Look in the dictionary under ‘precocious’ and you’ll probably find Isabella DiLeggi’s picture. Born in June 2008 as a forearm-level congenital amputee (a condition known as symbrachydactyly), she grasps life more enthusiastically and successfully with one hand than many 10-year-olds do with two.