FEATURES – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED – Shawn Beard ’97 Dodge Viper
Shawn Beard is a car guy. The Midland, Texas native says it was cars that got him through a scary period of his adolescence and it is cars today that give him reprieve from the pressures and demands of business and life.
“I have always had a passion for automobiles in general starting at a very early age. My passion grew tremendously at the age of 15 when I was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiform 4 brain tumor,” he recalled. Doctors gave Beard two months to live without treatment and perhaps six months to live with surgery.
Needless to say, the outlook was bleak.
However, it was during this time that Beard says he spent every waking moment in his hospital bed doing one thing: pouring over car magazines. “Cars became a major part of my life and my recovery,” he said. “I wanted to get out of the hospital and drive, therefore giving me the will to live. No matter what was going on in life, I could get in a car and forget about it. It’s still that way today,” he added.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and Beard not only survived his brush with death, he’s thriving. Along with wife Heather, the Beards are raising two young boys of their own (Mason age 6 and Landon age 2) in West Texas while Shawn works in the oil and gas industry. But that love of cars is now stronger than ever. And with it, a purpose to help a friend’s unfulfilled dream become reality….Read more of this article. Just click on the digital feature below this introduction.
Read more stories like this at www.rpmmag.com
Category: FEATURES, FEATURES - NEW
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
