08/20/2026
32 years ago today.
August 20, 1994. Casey Kammel was 22, a college senior on vacation in Hawaii. He dove into a swimming pool and hit his head on the bottom, fracturing his C4 vertebra. Paralyzed from the neck down.
Two months in the hospital. Three months in a steel halo brace screwed into his skull. A vertebral fusion built from his own hip bone. He dropped from 185 pounds to 135. Doctors told him the probability of walking again was slim.
He relearned to stand, to walk, to dress, to brush his teeth. "It took 45 minutes to put on one sock and a pair of gym shorts."
Then he kept going. He came back to Hawaii — this time, racing in Ironman as a physically-challenged endurance triathlete for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. He opened Executive Fitness, a private training studio in 1997, because he knew first-hand what it means to rebuild a body from zero.
Twenty-nine years later, Executive Fitness still runs on the mantra Casey walked out of that hospital with:
Failure is not an option.
If you're rebuilding — or you just want to make sure the next decades are stronger than the last — the first session is free. 30 minutes, at the studio, no obligation.
Book yours → ExecutiveFitness.com
Mike I changed a few words but this is great.
