The Luckiest Unlucky Man Alive

Rating:
Summary: From the Nurse's Point of View
Review: As a health care professional, I was definitely impressed by THE LUCKIEST UNLUCKY MAN ALIVE. I have always been interested in the outcomes of illness and how people relate to the same situations differently. The outcome is in the belief system of the afflicted. This book talks about getting past adversity that we all have to face at some time in our life. It is really fascinating, especially for those of us who want to find meaning in the tragic events that plague us mortals.

I loved the book and it reminds us all how short life is and how we need to live it to the fullest. I have already loaned the book to a melanoma survivor in hopes it will be an inspirational story to her.

It is easy to read and well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: You want to read this book!
Review: By "lucky" happenstance I discovered this marvelous book. Having read, re-read and presented your book in review twice already, I feel as if I know Bill Goss. My next review of his book will be at the Riverside Woman's club....everyone indentifies with Bill Goss' "joie de vivre" and courage!

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Summary: What an amazing life!
Review: I loved the book and was amazed at the life Bill lived in such a short time. With the tragic events of this past weekend ending the short lives of JFK, Jr, his wife and her sister, it again reminds us how short life is and how we can only live each day to the fullest. I am glad Bill survived the many tragedies of his life and lived to tell the tale. I have already loaned the book to friends and tell everyone I know what an inspirational story this is. When I met Bill Goss a couple months ago, I was inspired again to live life to the fullest every day and thank God for being in control of my life. I'm looking forward to seeing his story brought to the "Big Screen" so his story can reach the multitudes who need to hear his story.

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Summary: BILL GOSS --- I SALUTE YOU!
Review: I'm definitely moved by Bill Goss' luck, and I'm definitely moved by his book, THE LUCKIEST UNLUCKY MAN ALIVE, and I'm definitely moved that you would come on my show...you're a true Nugent warrior, Bill Goss!

Your book talks about getting past the landmine fields of adversity that we all have to face at some cluster puck moment in our hockey life of roller coaster hell...THE LUCKIEST UNLUCKY MAN ALIVE is about Bill's life of being wacked, stacked,and otherwise tracked and then packed again throughout his life, then made dead and dead again...Bill Goss, we hope your luck continues --- I SALUTE YOU!

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Summary: Man has a life of cheating death
Review: Retired Navy pilot Bill Goss' autobiography chronicles his life-threatening experiences, including a bout with a quick-killing cancer, auto accidents, a plane wreck and the collapse of a mine that left him dangling over a chasm by his safety belt.

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Summary: How can someone be lucky and unlucky at the same time?
Review: The Associated Press...

Syracuse Herald American, November 7, 1999...

....Young Bill Goss plunged his head into a sink full of water, hoping to get the wethead look of Elvis Presley. His head wedged between two facets as the water poured in. Bill, just 9 years old then, thought for sure he was going to drown.

"My screams dissipated into gurgling noises, since my face was immersed in the water," he recalls. "My head was too big and the basin too small. There was simply no way I could get my hands around my face to to unplug the lifesaving stopper and drain the water. That's when I knew I was going to die."

Goss survived by ripping out two hunks of scalp, denting the facet handles. It was the first of 30 near-death experiences that he says he survived over the next three decades. From mine collapses to plane wrecks, his dances with the grim reaper are recounted in his book, "The Luckiest Unlucky Man Alive."

TAKING ON CANCER. The most threatening of the retired Navy pilot's experiences began five years ago with a small pink cyst-like bump behind his ear. Navy and civilian doctors told him to get his life in order because the cyst was a rare form of malignant melanoma, a quick killer. In a desperate attempt to stay alive, Goss found a doctor who removed his left ear and 200 lymph nodes.

The stitches along the side of his head and down his neck made the dashing naval officer look like he had been put together with spare parts. Reconstructive surgery helped him look normal again, but for a while he had to glue on his silicon ear with rubber cement.

Greg O'Neil, a Cinncinnati businessman and lifelong friend of Goss who was with him on several misadventures, thought the cancer would kill Goss.

"I was devastated. I thought this was it for Bill," said O'Neil, who grew up with Goss in the Millburn, N.J. area.

Goss, 44, has been cancer-free for five years now. "I lucked out," he said. "I learned from those dark days that behind every challenge are great opportunities."

O'Neil doesn't see Goss as being unlucky.

He was always able to pull something positive out of bad circumstances," O'Neil said. "Bill Goss is like 'Forrest Gump' meets 'Terminator II."

BRUSHES WITH DISASTER. Few people, however, would wish to be quite as "lucky" as Goss.

While attending University of Arizon in 1974, he worked weekends at a nearby copper mine. He was rigging blasting caps 5,000 feet underground to clear a chute along a 40 foot hole when he heard the sound of splitting granite. When the dust cleared, he was dangling over the chasm by his safety belt.

In 1985, Goss was in Spain as a Navy pilot of a P-3 Orion, an aircraft used for tracking soviet submarines and drug runners. He was doing test landings when a crew member inadvertently shut down one of the planes four engines.

"Suddenly the aircraft snapped to the left more violently than before," he wrote in his autobiography. "It departed the left side of the runway, twisting off the landing gear and causing the number 3 propeller to touch the ground. That instantly tore the entire 4600 shaft horsepower engine propeller assembly off the aircraft. I remember seeing it out the corner of my eye as it flew over the right wing."

Damage amounted to $3.5 million. No one was injured.

In 1991, Goss stopped his car on Interstate 295 in Jacksonville to remove a box of garbage from the roadway. As he stood in the median, he was struck by a car going about 50 mph. The police report stated he flew 45 feet through the air and he had an out-of-body experience, but he escaped without serious injury.

"It felt great to be dead, still able to think but no longer constrained to my physical being," Goss wrote. "I felt my mind and spirit advance out beyond our stars. In the big picture; I mean the really big picture, time, space, distance, structure, weight, dimension -- these things have no meaning -- only human spirit does."

His cancer forced Goss to retire from the Navy. Now he spends much of his time writing and giving inspirational and motivational talks, billing himself as a "totally unique speaker" on his website: www.luckiestman.com

Bill Goss lives on historic Fleming Island, in Orange Park, southwest of Jacksonville, Florida, with his wife Peggy and their 12-year-old twins, Brian and Christie. He said the kids were his inspiration for writing the book.

"I wanted to leave something behind -- something for my kids to remember me by just in case I didn't make it -- something to let them know who their dad was," he said.

"Bill has been knocked down, but never out, and he would always rise again. The guy I married has nine lives," Peggy said. "My problem was I didn't know what number he was on."

You'll want to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: After 30 Close Calls, He Says He's Lucky
Review: The title of Bill Goss' book says it all: "The Luckiest Unlucky Man Alive." He's only 43, but Goss has survived 30 close calls in as many years.

"No matter what happens to you, you've got to get up, dust yourself off...and get on to the next thing in life."