BocelliOnline

[Melodie]

Started at Thu Feb 13 09:37:44 2003
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This article appeared in the Boston Globe last summer; I thought some of you might find it interesting...

Blind Mechanic Follows His Dream
Man Gives Motivational Speeches
POSTED: 10:48 p.m. EDT July 22, 2002
UPDATED: 7:41 a.m. EDT July 24, 2002
BOSTON -- Building competitive race cars takes a great deal of skill, but imagine doing it if you were blind.

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner said that's what life is like for mechanic Jay Blake who's following his dream and spreading his message of the power of positive thinking.

Building race cars is a passion for 36-year-old mechanic Harry "Jay" Blake. After all, it's been a dream of his since the fourth grade.

"I'd always wanted to work on race cars and travel around and go racing and I never really pursued that," Jay Blake said. "It was always a dream, and that's where it stayed until after my accident."

That industrial accident occurred in May 1997 when a tire exploded in his face. "I was flown to Mass General Hospital and when I woke up I asked Jimmy, my brother (who) was actually at my bed, 'Am I alive?' he said 'Yes', and I said, 'Am I blind?' and he said, 'We think so,'" Jay Blake said.

Not only did he lose his sight, he lost his sense of smell and taste. It took doctors 10.5 hours to rebuild his face. "I lost everything from my eyebrows down to my jaw. I wasn't very pretty after the accident, but today they tell me I look like Tom Cruise," Jay Blake said.

That sense of humor and positive attitude brought this professional mechanic back to his dream and the comfortable, familiar tools he knew so well. "After I got home from the hospital, (I) started out in the garage and opened up a drawer of my tool box, and I grabbed a wrench, and I could tell it was a wrench. I could tell what kind of a wrench it was," Jay Blake said. "Even without sight, I was capable of knowing what things were and where things go, and that's where it started."

"You have a lot more important things to do than building a race car. Let's get your life in order, you know, the older brother speech. Get your life in order, but, by the way, if you want me to drive it, I will," Jay Blake's brother, Jim Blake, said.

Jim Blake came out of a self-imposed retirement from racing to drive a competitive, super-comp dragster that can reach speeds of up to 170 mph in eight seconds. It serves as the "visual" reality for his brother's nonprofit corporation Follow A Dream -- that gives the message of what is possible and how to overcome adversity in life. It's a theme Jay Blake shares as a motivational speaker.

"It doesn't have to be a traumatic accident like I've been through. It can be a divorce or something to that effect that can throw your whole life into a tail spin," Jay Blake said. "The key is to you have to believe in yourself first, and with 'Follow A Dream' that's what we try and do. (It's) the power of positive thinking, self-determination, hard work, education, believing in yourself, the sky is the limit."

"He would have been considered handicapped. He's capable. He does more things than people that can see," Jim Blake said. "I see nothing but total darkness. I had a choice to live or die. I chose life because I have two kids. My son, Stephen, is 15, and my daughter, Marybeth, is 11. That's the reason I get up. I'm incredibly lucky to be alive today, and I wasn't taking no for an answer," Jay Blake said.

Now, he takes his race car, positive message and the Follow A Dream program all across the country, speaking to school students, colleges and even businesses.

To learn more about Blake's organization, click here:

http://www.followadream.net