We had been tying strays up that morning and were all out of ropes except for the one extra rope, the 13th rope, which I had on my horse. … put it around John, throwing it over his head and under his arms, stepped back, got a good hold on the rope and hollered “NOW!†and we heaved, but John wasn’t coming. …
—Albert Primeau, Chapter 7
The 13th Rope is the inspiring autobiography of John Christensen, architect and creator of Global Disability Foundation. John has endured much in his lifetime—crippling illness at age fourteen, permanent debilitating injury in a plane crash, five years incarceration for a tragic error in judgment. His life has taken twists and turns that, as a farm boy in rural Saskatchewan, he would never have believed possible. Yet at every bend in the road John has picked himself up, dusted himself off, and gone on to achieve the fulfillment of his hopes and dreams. From an account of his famous ancestral roots in Chapter 1 to a final chapter on life in Calgary, Alberta, John spares nothing of himself between the covers of The 13th Rope.