On Any Given Day

In 1994, Joe was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease. The doctors told him his life would be over in twenty months or less. Joe told himself: Just live. He decided that he would recover, if not from the disease, then from the diagnosis. No doctor could predict what might be accomplished on any given day. This is the story of a man who was successful by every measure -- a pillar of his church and community, a top executive of his company, the father of three children. Using the resources at hand, Joe fashioned a credo combining the words of the psalmist and of baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr. "This is the day the Lord has made. Get up, go to the ballpark and do your very best". Joe Martin's best has been nothing short of spectacular. Having built a career as the acknowledged "conscience" of Bank of America, Joe took on the sponsorship of a program to organize low-income neighborhoods for greater political and economic clout, a year after his "death sentence". He helped start one of the Southeast's leading centers for ALS research and treatment. In Charlotte, North Carolina, he played a leading role in overturning a county government that threatened to rip apart his community along a religious fault line. For anyone who's been tempted to stop hoping, this book gives hope and possibilities. It's a blueprint for making the best out of every day, one day at a time. It's a book, too, about and for caregivers. Joe's wife, Joan, leads a strong supportive cast. Family, friends and young assistants learn to redefine caregiving through commitment, to sustain dignity through love. And for those who imagine American business to be an impersonal profit machine, think again. No matter how severe one's disability, it is the value of the individual that powers corporate success.