Working hard to achieve my goals involved all of the mantras in ChaRGD, and above all, an attitude of determination to live by them.

I have met my favorite football player, Steve Young of the SF 49ers, seven times over a nineteen-year span. Surprisingly, he never knocked on my door saying, "Hi Shari, I wanted to say hello to my biggest fan". I had to work hard to ensure each "chance" encounter. I’ve waited after a football game until he was finished with his Monday Night Football broadcast, waited in line at his book signing (where he even signed Gromitt's jersey), and flew to Hawaii to see him in the Pro Bowl. My biggest payoff was during a parade in 2012. He was the Grand Marshall of the parade and he saw me sitting in my wheelchair wearing his jersey along the parade route. He jumped off the truck he was riding on to come over to me to say "hi" and sign my jersey.