Kenny Herriot- Motivational Speaker

Last week we had a guest speaker at Berry College by the name of Kenny Herriot. He has a pretty amazing story. Kenny was a successful fitness trainer, boxer and manager when he suffered a freak motorcycle accident in July 2000 which left him paralysed from the waist down. He was only traveling 15 mph but hit a diesel slick and his bike came out from under him. Kenny was determined to regain his fitness and independence after the accident. He took up wheelchair racing in 2002 and in an amazingly short period he rose to the top echelons of the sport, taking all Scottish records from 400m to the marathon, and the British marathon record.

He talked about how your life can change in a heart beat and that when he says that most people automatically think about negative things happening. But your life can change for the better in a heart beat as well. Kenny has made the most of a tough situation through a positive attitude and lots of hard work. He has two quotes that he focuses on when he speaks to people...

"Bad things happen to everybody - its how you handle them that makes you different."

"Nothing slows you down like negative people."

He is currently training and about to embark on a journey across the United States from San Fransisco to New York in The Great Lemon Ride. This 3,500 mile journey is a way for Kenny to raise awareness for Alex's Lemonade Stand which is a charity that was started by a little 4 year old cancer patient named Alex back in 2000. She decided she was going to start a Lemonade stand and give the money she raised to the hospital to help kids like her. Her little lemonade stand continued to grow and others across the country and world caught on and started their own. When Alex passed away at the age of 8, she had attained her goal of raising 1 million dollars. Alex's mother also spoke to the group at Berry and shared Alex's story.

If you would like to visit Kenny's web site here is the link...

http://www.kennyherriot.co.uk/

If you would like more information on Alex's Lemonade Stand visit...

http://www.alexslemonade.org/home