By: Kelly Rouba

Chris Dudley was only a sophomore in high school when he received some news from his doctor that would change his life forever. Dudley, who had been experiencing fatigue and extreme thirst, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1981—a disease that is caused when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar levels.

Dudley said his father suspected he might have diabetes and was the one who had him get tested. “My dad’s brother—my uncle—had diabetes, so I was fortunate in that my dad was suspicious to check for that,” Dudley said, adding, “He went to the local pharmacy and got what, at the time, was a way of testing for blood sugar.”

After the test showed that his blood sugars were high, Dudley’s father took him right to the hospital. Upon being diagnosed with diabetes, “I was upset, confused, just didn’t know what it meant, and scared,” Dudley recalls. “I didn’t know much about it, (except that) there was and are some very drastic long-term complications.”

By:  Kelly Rouba

When Sasha Petrovic, 27, received a call from ABC saying they were interested in having him compete on the network’s hit reality dating show “The Bachelorette,” he was more than shocked.

“I was like, ‘What are you talking about? You’ve got the wrong guy’,” Petrovic said in a recent interview.

But there was no mistake. Over a year ago, “my sister submitted me for ‘The Bachelor’ as like a joke,” said Petrovic, who resides in Texas and had forgotten all about what his sister had done until ABC called him.


Although he wasn’t chosen as “The Bachelor,” producers asked if he would consider being a contestant on “The Bachelorette.” Still a bit bewildered, Petrovic decided to move forward with the interview process and ended up joining the ranks of 30 men who have been vying for the heart of bachelorette Jillian Harris, of Vancouver, British Columbia, this season.

Last week, much to the surprise of many viewers, Petrovic was eliminated from the competition after he talked about his search for a “mythical unicorn” among single women—a sentiment Harris didn’t think she could live up to.

“The meaning behind it is obviously you know you (will) find that special person; you know they’re out there even though you haven’t found them, yet you still truly believe in it,” Petrovic said, adding, “And…I think Jillian misread it because she was thinking ‘oh, it’s this perfect person.’ But that’s not the case because nobody’s perfect.”  

Even though his remarks didn’t earn him another date, Petrovic doesn’t regret going on the show. He also has no regrets about opening up about who he is to Harris or talking about some of the difficult periods of his life, including the repercussions of a motor vehicle accident that almost killed him.

“You know for me, it was important for her to understand…who I was,” he said. “And that…part of my life is—it’s really transformed me and kind of led me to appreciate a lot of things that I think most people take for granted, you know? Just for example, just getting up out of bed and taking a deep breath, which…I couldn’t do for like six months.”

According to Petrovic, the accident occurred when he was on his way home after the second week of college. He was 18 years old at the time. “I guess it was probably a parent’s worst nightmare,” he said, adding that his mom still cries at the thought of it.

The accident happened on “a real winding road in central Texas, and it’s called Devil’s Backbone actually because it’s such a winding road and people get in wrecks (there a lot of the) time,” Petrovic said. “I wasn’t familiar with the area. I had a big V71 truck, and I basically kind of was too far to the right. I overcorrected and came across. I hit a ditch and…I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt, which I do now every time.”

After hitting the ditch, Petrovic flew out of his truck and landed on his back. “(I) shattered my pelvis and crippled my legs and all that stuff. But it’s really weird because I don’t remember any of it.”

Petrovic was flown to a hospital in Austin, Texas and placed in the Intensive Care Unit. With his neck in a brace, doctors prepared him for surgery. “(They said) they had to pull my pelvis out because my right hip jumped in like three inches, so I would have been all crooked.”

For Petrovic, the recovery process was daunting and painful. “I had to blow through this stupid machine for like four months so my lungs would recuperate and heal because they were both collapsed. I had to get…electroshock therapy on my left leg because it was completely paralyzed. And that’s probably the weirdest thing, which scared my dad the most because I couldn’t move my leg. I mean it’s the craziest feeling in the world when your mind is telling you to move your leg and it won’t go anywhere and you’re like, ‘Oh my God’.”

Petrovic said he didn’t panic though, which surprises him now. “I don’t know why (I didn’t panic). Like, thinking of it now makes me kind of nervous, but back then, I don’t know why I didn’t. I just knew I was going to fix myself. It was the weirdest thing, even though my doctor (said I) should be a paraplegic.”

Doctors also thought Petrovic wouldn’t survive his injuries. Petrovic said he considers it a miracle that he is still alive, but also attributes it to the fact that he was in good health at the time of the accident. “I was probably 190 (pounds)…and in fairly good shape. I’d been in good shape my whole life, which saved my life—basically that and the fact that I flew into some bamboo fields so that the truck didn’t cut me in half.”

“You know, I still have bamboo in the back of my head, which I kind of fool with and it reminds me…to be careful when you drive and always wear your seatbelt. But the tough part was…coming home you know (age) 18, (and) all of my friends are in college.”

During his recovery, Petrovic relied on his parents to care for him. “I can’t walk, I can’t move. You know, my parents had to shower me, bathe me, it’s just…I couldn’t even watch comedy movies because all of my insides—my organs—were so destroyed I couldn’t even laugh or cough or sneeze. If I sneezed, I was basically out of commission for like six hours.”

Aside from the electroshock therapy, Petrovic also had to do continuous weight training. “I went from squatting like 500 pounds to basically squatting a 45-pound regular dumbbell,” he said, noting that he lost weight. “I went from 190 to 140 (pounds), so all my muscles went through atrophy. It was basically like starting over, you know, from square one like…you’re a newborn at (age) 18. None of your muscles work. Everything’s deteriorated.”

Watching his health decline was frustrating. “(I went from) being this athlete who was in really good shape and kind of, you know, could do anything to…having to…rely on everybody to do everything for you in terms of like picking you up, getting you out, you know, showering you, using the restroom. I mean it was…just one of those things that looking back you kind of wonder how you went through it, but you made it through somehow.”

But, Petrovic feels that period of his life has made him stronger and more appreciative. “Afterwards, you really appreciate just being able to get up in the morning and walk outside and grab the paper. It’s just the smallest things, you know? And, you know, ever since then…I’ve always been a guy that can kind of conquer—you know, get through things and figure stuff out, and I’ve been a very strong person. You know, no one really ever helps me out with anything.”

Petrovic also feels the incident helped him realize what really matters in life.  “It actually built me up even stronger because now…after going through that, I know what’s important in life” he said.

In fact, when Harris asked if he finds work stressful, Petrovic said no. “For me, there’s more important things in life than to worry about that. You know, it’s like you have your health, your family, things that really matter.  At the end of the day, you can always find a job, you can always make money but…just think about it if you just had a life threatening illness…how would you feel about that? You wouldn’t care about things like that, you know? And I kind of went through that, so it just made (me)…put everything into perspective at the end of the day.”

Having overcome life-threatening injuries “really made me who I am. Because…I’m very outgoing, I’m full of energy…people always call me like…super hyper and all that stuff. (But it’s) because…I think I live each day…for that day as opposed to I think some people the way they almost feel is like they’re not entitled to…have their life and the things that they have.”

Petrovic is also convinced he will find his mythical unicorn someday. “I know she’s out there,” he said.

And just to make sure that happens, his sister has once again stepped in to help, along with some friends, by creating a website called Find Sasha A Unicorn. For a donation of at least 99 cents, interested women can enter to win a fairytale date with Petrovic. Proceeds will go to a paraplegic foundation as well as to help defray the cost of the date. For more information or to enter to win, visit www.findsashaaunicorn.com.

ThisAbled.com All Rights Reserved 2009

Phillies All-Star Shows Heart On and Off the Field

By: Kelly Rouba

In a town like Philadelphia, where fans are known to expect the best from their professional athletes, Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino has risen to the challenge.

A 2008 and 2009 Gold Glove award winner, Victorino’s talent and passion for the game even helped him rack up a record-breaking 15.6 million fan votes, which earned him a spot in this year’s All-Star Game.

Victorino is grateful to have such a dedicated fan base in Philadelphia and is quick to express his gratitude. “I am very fortunate, and I’m very blessed,” he said. “And I always say I thank the fans of Philly for loving me and for embracing me as one of their own…because playing in a place like Philly, that doesn’t happen very often. People are very tough on their athletes.”