From 1990 through 1993, I worked summers at Kennywood Amusement Park here in Pittsburgh. There I met Ed Hinchey, a police officer for the park, and soon we became good friends. The park police often held organized events, parties and trips for which Ed and I would design t-shirts. Ed always praised my work and would often say I need to do that for a living. Through the years Ed kept encouraging and urging me to be my own artist and start my own business. From 2003 to 2008, I worked for a jewelry establishment carving wax and casting. When Ed saw what I could do with metal he said, “that’s what you need to be doing, but for yourself.” He was even willing to partner up and take care of the business end. He even came up with a name, Greymist. Then, in 2009, I decided it was time to take Ed up on his offer. In order to cast metal into jewelry you first need to carve the piece out of wax. So I began to create a space and acquire the tools and equipment necessary to carve wax designs. Things were starting to take shape when my dad fell ill that February. On April 18, 2009, my dad passed away. I was devastated and took a while to get back on my feet. I eventually came around and began to concentrate again on Greymist. In May of 2012, Greymist officially went LLC and my casting studio was starting to come together. As things seemed to be coming along, my mom fell ill. She passed away on October 14, 2012. Again, I was devastated. This time though, instead of falling into depression, I decided to immerse myself in completing the casting studio. Then on March 31, 2013, I was hit with Guillain-Barré syndrome. I was paralyzed from my neck down, as well as my face. I spent two weeks at Presby hospital with a week in ICU. Then I underwent four weeks of intensive physical therapy at HealthSouth Harmarville, and another eight weeks of home and outpatient therapy. It’s been a long and difficult recovery but with all the love and support of my friends and family, and the excellent care I received at HealthSouth, I am doing well. My hands, though, were strongly affected and I was very apprehensive about my abilities to create art again. With a lot of hard work and perseverance, I got the studio up and running and regained much of my strength and skills. I did, however have one more hurdle to overcome. My hands had begun to weaken further and I needed to undergo Carpal Tunnel Surgery. My recovery was relatively quick and though I still have some long term physical issues from the GBS, Greymist is now in full swing. I can’t thank Ed and Tammy Hinchey enough for their friendship, generosity, encouragement and, above all, patience over the years. Mostly, though, I couldn’t have made it up to this point without my wonderful wife, Wendy, who has been by my side through it all.