Chris Waddell will be the guest speaker at the 9th Annual “Possibilities: Siskin Hospital Celebrates Life Beyond Disability” Luncheon on Wednesday. The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Mr. Waddell was a promising young skier at Middlebury College in 1988 when a skiing accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Determined to get back on the slopes, he began skiing on a mono-ski roughly one year later. A little more than two years later, Mr. Waddell was named to the U.S. Disabled Ski Team.

Mr. Waddell went on to become the most decorated male skier in Paralympic history, winning 12medals over four games, and spending a total of 11 years on the U.S. Disabled Ski Team. He is one a select few who has medaled in both summer and winter games. He was inducted into both the Paralympic Hall of Fame and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. In the fall of 2009, Mr. Waddell became the first paraplegic to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Mr. Waddell has been named the Dalai Lama’s unsung hero of compassion and has been featured in numerous publications, including Outside Magazine, Skiing, Ski, National Geographic Explorer, and People Magazine, who named him on the ‘The Most 50 Beautiful People in the World.’ He has also appeared on Dateline and Oprah.

He is the founder of The One Revolution Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at gaining equality for people with disabilities. One Revolution strives to change public perception of people with disabilities, as well as offer the gift of mobility by donating wheelchairs and hand cycles to people in developing countries. In addition to his work with the Paralympics and in International Paralympic Committee, Mr. Waddell has found success as a motivational speaker. Mr. Waddell speaks to the resilience of the human condition, with topics ranging from leadership to adversity to quality of life. 

The Possibilities Luncheon will also feature personal accounts of how individuals have overcome their disabilities to achieve amazing accomplishments. There will be a very special patient video with heartwarming footage of Siskin Hospital patients who have a miraculous recovery story to share. Love, courage, and perseverance helped each person turn tragedy into triumph, as they discovered that life is full of possibilities.

A steering committee is working with Siskin Hospital employees to help coordinate the luncheon, with Lynda and Jim Sattler as the 2012 co-chairs. The Possibilities Luncheon is Siskin Hospital’s largest community-wide fundraising event, with proceeds helping to provide needed services for patients without adequate insurance to cover the cost of their care. 

Individual tickets to the event are $75. Platinum Patron Sponsorship Tables of eight are available for $2,000. Crystal Patron and Patron Sponsorship Tables of eight are available for $1,500 and $1,000. For more information or to reserve a place at the Possibilities Luncheon, contact Sandy Howell by phone at 634-1208 or by email at showell@siskinrehab.org. Online registration and donation opportunities are available by visiting www.SiskinRehab.org.