From the author's preface In the fall of 2003, I had heard about an Illinois farmer so badly burned in his tractor that only his feet were spared injury. He had been wearing a new pair of work boots. I was a newspaper reporter, and the moment I heard about this farmer I felt compelled to find him, to see his house and his farm, to find out everything I could about this tragedy. How had he survived such a thing? What was his life like now? What was it like to come back from the brink? Naturally shy, Ted and Rhoda Fink over time graciously invited me into their home, their fields, their life. We had long talks, and over the next fifteen months my notebooks filled up. I spent a whole season with the Finks, planting corn and soybeans and riding months later in a combine harvesting the crops with Ted.	“I pray that if Ted survives he will be accepting of all the decisions made. My Teddy will never look the same – but I hope he’ll still be the same in his heart and soul. I hope he will be able to farm in some capacity.”  Excerpt from Rhoda's diary the night of her husband's accident
After spending months with Ted and seeing his joys and limitations, I began to reflect on the fact that medical advances had allowed him to survive an accident that a few years earlier would surely have been fatal. I could not help but note that his accident, occurring in late November of 1999, was at the dawn of a new century in which science was to quicken its march into our lives. After reading the story on the Finks in the Wall Street Journal, publisher Ivan Dee wrote to ask if I wanted to expand the tale into a book. By taking the time to look deeper, I found much to say about heroism, the clay we are made of (and under our feet) and a love story like no other.
Ted's medical chart showed the extent of his burn; it would take sheer heroics to save him.	Ted back in his tractor, several years after the accident