At age nineteen, Dave Jacka had his whole life ahead of him. He was 6’3″ and bulletproof.

Late one night, he took a turn too fast on his motorbike and went head first into a tree, shattering the fifth vertebrae in his neck. In just an instant, Dave lost ninety-four percent of his body function, resigning him to life in a wheelchair.

Despite his disability, Dave set a goal to put himself to bed at night. On his own. As a nineteen year old man without the help of his mother.

Two years later, with only six percent body function, he accomplished his goal. Once he got himself into bed, he realized that he was capable of anything he set his mind to.

Twenty-five years after his life changing accident, he accomplished another seemingly impossible goal. A goal that most people, in or out of a wheelchair, will never accomplish.

We found Dave’s incredible story on a recent trip to Melbourne, and knew we had to tell it. Because we are curious filmmakers who believe that:

A well-told story has the power to change the world. @stillmotion (Click to Tweet!)

And because Dave’s story will help inspire others. So we spent a day with Dave and created a film that has certainly changed our perspective on overcoming challenges and believing in our limitless potential.

Click here to watch Soar : The Quadriplegic Who Reached For The Sky. 

Patrick Moreau is quite literally obsessed with story–its inner workings, its structure–and how we can all tell stronger stories. He is a co-founder at Emmy Award-winning Stillmotion, a Portland-based creative studio that believes in the power of story to create real, positive change. As a studio, Stillmotion finds and tells stories for clients, as well as themselves, including their last film that told the journey of a 9-year-old girl fighting child slavery with lemonade. But just as important as telling these stories, Stillmotion believes in empowering others to tell theirs. To do this, they also spend a great deal of time sharing all they know on story, in order to help other creatives be more intentional, connected, and powerful in the work that they do. You can download their ebook, totally free (and totally awesome) right here How To Build A Story That Moves Your Viewer Every Time. You can see more of their stories, right here on Stillmotion’s website. You can follow Patrick on Twitter, FB or Instagram.