Madaline Bowman was lying along the Interstate, her eyes fixed on the sky. She tried to move, but couldn’t. “I knew right there that something was wrong,” she said. Strange, yet helpful, faces began appearing over Bowman. “I was in Richland Memorial Hospital, (Columbia) and my doctor thought I had broke my neck and that I was paralyzed really from [...]

The fact that Billie Attaway was physically standing on the stage provided a measure of hope for the fall 2009 graduating class. In 2004, Attaway was diagnosed with stage four malignant squamous cell cancer in his throat. Doctors at the renowned Mayo Clinic offered a grim prognosis; there was a 30 percent chance of survival. Five years and dozens of radiation and chemotherapy treatments later, Attaway delivered the first of two commencement speeches.