Randy Kraus was paralyzed (瘫痪)．His left side was useless．But his right hand was 1 enough to lift a bucket to his forehead．Once，he’d been a police officer and owned a private－eye agency．Once，he’d been strong and able．Now，he felt he was nothing．
His 2 started with Parkinson’s (帕金森) disease，but it didn’t 3 there．In July 2002，the 60－year－old Kraus went into the hospital for an operation to control the shaking． 4 ，during the operation，he had a stroke (中风)．He was paralyzed．The 5 man，who loved golf，could think，but couldn’t 6 ．Kraus wanted the doctors to 7 it to him straight．“You may never walk again，” they told him．“Maybe you won’t 8 be able to talk．”
Once home，he 9 he couldn’t lift a fork or take a drink by himself．Physical treatment was so painful and slow．What did he have to 10 for? So now Kraus held the gun against his head． 11 the cold metal on his skin，he began to consider not his pain，but the pain he 12 cause his wife，daughters and grandchildren．He didn’t pull the trigger (扳机)．
“You are where you are”，his exercise physiologist (生理学者)，Andrew Garud told him．“The pace (进度) would be slow；the pain would be 13 ．But as long as you are 14 ，you have the ability to get better．” After three months of 15 with Garud，Kraus wanted to see if he could 16 ．He could．Then he took three steps，sat down and cried like a baby．One step 17 to another．Next he managed a short walk．It was the hardest 18 of Kraus’s life．
Garud kept saying he could 19 more．Now，Kraus can brush his teeth，shave himself and get around the house with a walker．Little success only the paralyzed can 20 understand．