EP 217 - Paralyzed at 20, He Became a Prosecutor & Father of Triplets | Ken Kunken

EP 217 - Paralyzed at 20, He Became a Prosecutor & Father of Triplets | Ken Kunken

From Finding Better Podcast by John Suzuki

July 16, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 234

About this episode

Ken Kunken shares his powerful story of resilience after becoming a quadriplegic at 20 and achieving remarkable success in life.

At 20, my guest Ken Kunken broke his neck playing football and became a quadriplegic — paralyzed from the shoulders down. What he did next will change how you see what’s possible. In this episode of Finding Better, I sit down with Ken Kunken — the first quadriplegic to graduate from Cornell University — for one of the most powerful stories of overcoming adversity I’ve ever shared on this channel. After a spinal cord injury left him paralyzed in 1970, doctors told Ken the most he could hope for was selling magazine subscriptions over the phone — a phone he couldn’t even dial. Instead, he earned two master’s degrees, became a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor, went to law school, and served more than 40 years as a Nassau County assistant district attorney, rising to Deputy Bureau Chief. Then, more than 30 years after his injury and in his 50s, Ken and his wife Anna became parents to triplet sons. This is a real-life motivational story about resilience, gratitude, mindset, and the refusal to give up — no theories, no fluff, just a man who turned an impossible situation into an extraordinary life. We talk about his injury, life as a quadriplegic before the internet…

People in this episode

Host: John Suzuki

Guest: Ken Kunken

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cornell University, Nassau County

Books & works: I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story

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