The World at My Fingertips

Book excerpt: Steve Welker hasn't always been blind. And most people have never been blind. So most people can't fully understand Steve--but Steve Welker can understand them. That's what his inspiring book; The World at My Fingertips is all about: it's about a tragedy that has been turned into a triumph of spirit in a world so many of us simply take for granted--but that Steve Welker cannot. It all begins on a happy note, with Steve and his wife, Kristi joyfully anticipating the birth of their twins-conceived in a most unusual way! They attracted national attention as Leeza Gibbons featured them on her network television talk show. It was all working--until April 30, 1994. Then, in a matter of seconds, everything changed! In one seemingly senseless, unfathomable moment of disastrous coincidence, just days before the birth of their twin boys, both Steve and Kristi were severely injured in a car crash, and Steve lost his sight forever. The World at My Fingertips tells their story of tragedy transformed to triumph in a truly nourishing, soul-satisfying way, driven from within by an indomitable spirit (Steve's) coupled with an iron will (Kristi's) and a love that transcends every appearance of negative reality, no matter how dark and foreboding the world might seem. As Leeza Gibbons has written in her foreword, "I always consider it a blessing when someone allows their story to find its way to the public through me; but Steve and Kristi Welker did more than bless us with their story. They softened hearts and healed souls. They educated and empowered. They offered a quiet example of selflessness and hard-fought-for love that has sustained them.