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In May of 2002, Francesco Clark’s life radically changed when he dove into the shallow end of a stranger’s pool. His neurosurgeon at the time said he had a permanent spinal cord injury, rendering Mr. Clark paralyzed and unable to speak.

Soon, he had moved back in with his parents in Westchester County. “When I saw the hospital bed in my parent’s home where I used to play the piano, I burst into tears.”

But after years of rigorous physical therapy, Mr. Clark has proved much of the original prognosis to be wrong, while also starting a successful skin care business called Clark’s Botanicals. A national ambassador for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Mr. Clark, 41, lives with his father, mother and an aide , Silvia Golle, in Bronxville.