Beyond the Mask: How My Tragedy Sparked an Incredible Life: Lessons I Might Never Have Learned

As a seventeen-year-old volunteer firefighter, Brian Walsh suffered third-degree burns to his face. But he chose not to let that tragedy destroy him, and instead used it to create a magnificent life—both personally and professionally.Minutes before Brian Walsh, then just a teenager, heard his beeper go off, calling him to help put out another fire, he was on top of the world. An hour later, after a freak flashover and confusion that sent the junior firefighter into the inferno against regulations, Brian had suffered such profound burns to his face that he was unidentifiable to his fellow firefighters.Nearly everyone expected him to die that night.He did not.Nearly everyone expected him to die in the burn unit where, over the next month, every other patient died.Nearly everyone, including family and friends, expected Brian to choose a professional life that would keep him from showing his face, and the personal life of a hermit.He did not.Boldly forging a path forward with courage, gra