The Gift of Fire
Also by Dan Caro
“NO-HAND” DAN COMPILATION, VOLUME 1
(CD; available at:
www.dancaro.com
)
Other Hay House Books with Steve Erwin
LED BY FAITH:
Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide,
by Immaculée Ilibagiza, with Steve Erwin
LEFT TO TELL:
Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust,
by Immaculée Ilibagiza, with Steve Erwin
OUR LADY OF KIBEHO:
Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa,
by Immaculée Ilibagiza, with Steve Erwin
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®
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Hay House UK:
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Copyright © 2010 by Dan Caro
Published and distributed in the United States by:
Hay House, Inc.:
www.hayhouse.com
•
Published and distributed in Australia by:
Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.:
www.hayhouse.com.au
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Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by:
Hay House UK, Ltd.:
www.hayhouse.co.uk
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Published in India by:
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Editorial supervision:
Jill Kramer •
Project editor:
Shannon Littrell
Design:
Riann Bender •
Interior photos:
Courtesy of the author, unless otherwise noted
Certain names have been changed to protect individuals’ privacy.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use— other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews—without prior written permission of the publisher.
The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Caro, Dan.
The gift of fire : how I made adversity work for me / Dan Caro with Steve Erwin. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4019-2660-1 (hardcover)
1. Caro, Dan, 1979- 2. Burns and scalds--Patients--Louisiana--New Orleans Region--Biography. 3. Burns and scalds--Patients--Rehabilitation. 4. Jazz musicians--Louisiana--New Orleans Region--Biography. 5. Drummers (Musicians)--Louisiana--New Orleans--Biography. 6. New Orleans Region (La.)--Biography. I. Erwin, Steve. II. Title.
RD96.4.C373 2010
617.1’1092--dc22
[B]
2009049490
ISBN:
978-1-4019-2660-1
13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1
1st edition, March 2010
Printed in the United States of America
For my parents, John and Marilyn—
the strongest souls I’ve ever known.
Contents
Chapter 1:
Birth, Death, and Rebirth
Chapter 3:
A New Thumb, and New Challenges
Chapter 6:
Navigating the High-School Waters
Chapter 11:
The Winds of Change
You are about to read a book that will forever change your concept of the word
impossible.
Dan Caro’s story will introduce you to a whole new way of looking at the power of the human spirit. Somewhere within the soul of this young man, there exists a kind of magical vision that has allowed him to overcome the most challenging and difficult set of circumstances and emerge as a role model for all of us. This inner vision not only made a survivor out of Dan, but it has given him the ability to live his life at a level that most people—especially those who have never been confronted by such challenges—couldn’t even imagine for themselves.
When I first heard about all that Dan had been through, I was deeply and profoundly moved by his unwillingness to make excuses for anything in his life … and God knows he certainly would have been forgiven had he not made that choice. Had Dan just given up after being terribly burned as a two-year-old, everyone would have understood and explained it away as the natural result of a horrifying accident. But in some mysterious way, he simply refused to travel that road. Instead, he calls what happened to him his “gift of fire,” and he has made his life an example for all of us to admire and attempt to emulate.
I met Dan as I was making preparations for a national PBS special based on my book
Excuses Begone!
I immediately asked him to come on board with me and provide a firsthand, live example of someone overcoming enormous adversity
sans
any and all excuse making. Dan rocked the audience and absolutely blew me away, giving a stirring performance of how to be a world-class drummer without the benefit of hands.
Dan is one of the most inspirational people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. I love his message, and I love the man even more. I know that his story will not only fill
you
with admiration for his truly remarkable achievements over the past 28 years, but it will also help you realize the truth in the old maxim: “Nothing is impossible to a determined soul.”
I encouraged Dan to write this book after receiving thousands of letters from people who told me how much inspiration they received from watching him on my PBS special. I love the beautifully honest rendition he’s given of his life in these pages. Yet nothing written here (or anywhere) can begin to depict the soul of Dan Caro. His determination and courage leave me in awe, and his sense of humor about it all leaves me breathless. His original title for his book was
Look, Ma, No Hands!
That says a lot about the character of my friend Dan Caro, about whom I say, “Look, everyone, no excuses!”
—
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Maui, Hawaii
I was born just a stone’s throw from the Big Easy. My mother gave birth to me in the heart of bayou country— in the old southeastern Louisiana town of Metairie. That’s right outside the one and only city of New Orleans.
There are two things you can’t escape in New Orleans: the humidity and the music. If you’re lucky enough to call this place home, the humidity is a burden you learn to live with, and the music is a penetrating joy you never want to go too long without. And if you’re a musician— especially a jazz drummer—what better place to grow up than the birthplace of jazz itself?
New Orleans has its own cadence, a rhythm fashioned centuries ago amidst the cultural clash of its first inhabitants and the subsequent blending of African, European, and Latin musical traditions. What evolved was a rhythm that is distinctively American, and as primitive and potent as the human heartbeat. It’s a rhythm that has given birth to countless new harmonious styles, from jazz to zydeco, from Cajun music to the Delta Blues. It’s an inherently soulful sound that has endured wars and disease, hurricanes and floods. But it’s also woven into the tapestry of daily life in the Big Easy, part of everything from funeral processions to prayer meetings, from garage jam sessions to smoke-filled Bourbon Street jazz clubs, from the smallest music festival to Mardi Gras itself.
That rhythm pulled my soul to the city before I was born, wooed the cosmos when I was only an embryonic notion to my parents—and, as I emerged, planted a vision in my heart and body that I’d follow for my life to come.
Yes, I believe I was destined to become a musician. So I was not in the least surprised to learn that my parents, John and Marilyn, had met and fallen in love at a concert. Both of my father’s parents had played musical instruments, and Dad was a professional musician himself in his younger years and had even managed to support himself playing the trumpet. Unfortunately, as I would one day discover, being a musician is a precarious career at best, and paychecks can be few and far between. So when my parents decided to get married, Dad put the trumpet aside and began selling insurance.
Soon my mother and father had saved enough money to buy a small house in a lower-middle-income neighborhood in Metairie and begin raising a family. When I arrived in the world on November 16, 1979, the Caro family was already well under way. My eldest brother, John Jr. (or Johnny, as we all call him), was born seven years before me and was an only child for four years until my brother Scott arrived on the scene. For most of my seminal years I was the baby of the family, a role I was forced to give up when my little brother, Paul, was born not long after my eighth birthday.