Gimp: When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold---Or You Can Play » (Abridged)

Mark Zupan is a Paralympic medal winner and the star of the MTV/ThinkFilm documentary Murderball. He lives in Austin.

Mark Zupan was a college soccer star, out drinking one night with friends. Tired from the game and from a few too many beers, he decided to take a nap in the back of his best friend’s pickup truck. Still asleep when the pickup started and drove off, he was suddenly jolted awake when the truck crashed. Mark was thrown into a river and was stuck in the freezing water, barely clinging to a tree branch, for 14 hours. When Mark was finally rescued, he discovered the terrible truth -- he’d broken his neck and was now a quadriplegic, facing life in a wheelchair and only limited use of all four limbs.

But always a winner and a fighter, Mark refused to accept that his injury doomed him to a lifetime of passive acceptance. Inspiring, defiant, and revealing, Mark’s memoir will appeal not only to fans of MURDERBALL, but also to anyone ready to be motivated by a touching, captivating, and heartfelt story about triumphing over the odds.

The Washington Post - Juliet Wittman

Mark Zupan uses fast, effective prose to tell the story of how he became a quadriplegic and ended up a world-class player of full-contact wheelchair rugby…You have to admire Zupan. He never apologizes for his crazed behavior or snivels about its consequences. He's blisteringly honest about the long-drawn-out period of grief, anger and rehabilitation he suffered, and he displays an astonishing lack of rancor toward Igoe. A smart, fierce adrenalin-addicted athlete, he is also a fascinating character.