At age 11,  Brooke Ellison was hit by a car, an accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on a ventilator. Ten years later, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in cognitive neuroscience. At 23, she penned Miracles Happen, a memoir that was adapted into a movie, The Brooke Ellison Story, directed by Christopher Reeve. Brooke went on to earn her MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a PhD in sociology from Stony Brook University. Today, she is a tenured professor at Stony Brook. Brook talks about the story of her remarkable life, and her belief that people possess the strength and grit to fight back when we feel all is lost. Brooke is also the author of Look Both Ways.