Storyteller’s Night at Jesse Brown’s
Dean Otto knew there was something different about that September morning in 2016.
“In fact I almost got to the end of my street, and I said, ‘come on, Dean… just go,’ and I turned around and I went,” he said during his appearance on Ellen.
Otto’s decision to continue his bike ride would lead to an unanticipated and near life-ending crash, an incredible comeback, and an unexpected friendship.
“I knew that I was going to hit him,” said Will Huffman of that morning in Charlotte when his truck struck Otto, wrecking Otto’s spine and leaving him almost completely paralyzed.
When doctors told Otto he’d have the slimmest of chances to even walk again, that, he said, was all he needed to hear. Otto would recover. In fact, he’d go on to challenge both Huffman and the surgeon who put him back together. The challenge? To run a half marathon. All three of them.
But what spirit possesses a man to forgive the act and the man that nearly robbed him of the active life he once led? Well, that’s the glue that holds this story together and the now years-long friendship that Otto and Huffman have shared since.
Otto connects the rest of the dots between these men’s lives, and tells us what moved him to forgive, forget, and forge a friendship. He’s one of our guests at Storyteller’s Night at Jesse Brown’s on January 31. We hope you’ll join us!
