Who Says I Can't

Three years later, when cancer forced the removal of a lung and essentially served as a death sentence, this epithet continued. Rosenberg grew tired of only being good considering his disability.

In the decades since, he has used athletics to overcome this social stigma. He turned his disability into a superability, often performing in challenging open water swims, cancer-fundraising bike rides, and treacherous skiing adventures better than two-leggers.

And in the business world, when working in a reliable position failed to quench his need for risk taking, he plunged into entrepreneurship.

In Who Says I Can't? Rosenberg teaches by example how everyone can overcome life s obstacles. He shows that when the world says you can t, courage and determination prove you can be more than good...considering.

Jothy Rosenberg is an above-knee amputee, caused by osteosarcoma in 1973. Three years later, the cancer metastasized and 2/5 of his lungs had to be removed. A course of chemotherapy—only just out in clinical use in 1976—is probably why he is still here today. After defying the odds and surviving his bouts with cancer, he went on to earn a PhD in computer science, be on the faculty of Duke University for five years, author two technical books, found seven high-tech companies, ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike-a-thon supporting the Dana-Farber cancer institute seven times, and to swim sixteen times from Alcatraz to San Francisco to support the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless program. All told, his athletic fundraising efforts to date have netted the charities over $100,000.

Jothy has a wonderful wife, three kids, a grandson, and a multitude of golden retrievers. He lives (and swims, and bikes) in Newton, Massachusetts. He wrote this book to try to share what he learned from thirty-five years living as a cancer survivor and an amputee, as someone who has recovered from very intense life trauma, in the hope it accelerates that learning for those in a similar situation, and perhaps motivates and inspires those needing just a little lift.