A Link to the Outside World
KJZZ and Sun Sounds bring normalcy to a listener's life

By: Kristen Forbes

[This article was published in the winter 2009 edition of Wavelength Magazine].

“Before the accident,” Steve Welker says, “I was a news junkie. I read the newspaper every single day – I couldn’t get enough news. After the accident, I was lost. I remember one day, sitting there on my couch, holding this newspaper that I couldn’t see, just crying.”

The car accident he’s referring to took place in April of 1994, when Steve and his wife Kristi were hit head-on at 60 miles per hour en route to the hospital, where the surrogate mother of their twins was being admitted. The Phoenix couple was preparing for what they knew would be the happiest phase of their lives – they were about to become parents, something they’d once thought impossible.

Their giddiness vanished in a flash. The accident left Kristi with head injuries, broken clavicles and a crushed left foot. She was unable to return to her job as a pharmaceutical representative. Steve had severe head injuries, broke nearly every bone in his face and suffered a stroke of the myoptic nerve that left him permanently blind.

Two weeks later, their boys Colton and Dylan were born. Welker has no memory of the births. It took another six weeks, he says, before he comprehended that he was alive, a parent and he was blind.

“I went into a deep depression, as you can imagine,” Welker says.

Still, his sons motivated him.

“I never wanted them to be embarrassed that their dad was blind. I wanted them to think they had the best dad in the world, who just happened to be blind.”

Welker says he was “a mess” for the first year after the accident. Then, step by step and with God's help, he says, he put the pieces back together. He returned to work in insurance and later opened his own agency, which he ran successfully for seven years.
Realizing his life had a different purpose, he left the insurance business to write a book about his journey. The World at my Fingertips was published in 2006. While on a book tour, Welker discovered his passion for talking to people. He became a motivational speaker and now teaches his Radical Resiliency philosophy (“the ability to not only survive, but to thrive”).

Welker discovered KJZZ's business reviews and Sun Sounds, which allows him to call in and listen to articles read over a special radio. He tries to listen to the entire newspaper when he has the time. “It’s my link to the outside world,” Welker says. “It is the only way I can take in information.”

Welker credits Kristi, now recovered and working as a psychologist, for helping him regain his confidence. Now, he’s passionate about empowering others, too.

“You can go through a horrific event,” Welker says. “Regardless of what it is, you can go through a tragedy and come out on the other end and go on with your life.”

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Kristen Forbes is a freelance writer living in Portland, OR. To view her blog, visit www.krissymick.blogspot.com