Greg Sumner is a young man with an incredibly positive attitude
In 2012 he was involved in a head on collision with another car. Both drivers were killed but Greg, a passenger, was left with a life changing acquired brain injury.
Unable to move from the neck down Greg is determined to make the best of life and to inspire people everywhere. He has done talks in prisons, young offender units and even at the Ministry of Defence. Earlier this year he was awarded the Defence Safety Award because of his work in raising awareness of road safety issues.
Greg had a tough start in life. His mother was such a severe alcoholic that she died while he was still very young. By then he had been exposed to so much chaos that, not surprisingly, he was deeply affected. He got into trouble constantly at school and afterwards his life began to spiral out of control. He was soon dealing drugs and turning over tens of thousands of pounds a month.
Greg has written his life’s story, not to point the finger of blame, but because he is bursting with positivity. Few people who have lived the life he lived have ever written books and this is a privileged glimpse into what it is like to grow up amidst chaos, to have a mother who is determined to drink herself to death and to be so troubled that, even as a small child, wherever you go your reputation precedes you.
I am honoured to be working with Greg to get his autobiography Every Cloud ready for publication. My job is to tease out of Greg a bit more detail and to get him to open up a bit more about some of the key incidents in his life. I have every confidence that this book is going to be an incredibly gripping account of a young life that has been overshadowed by a tragedy. I also believe that it will be an important book as it will have the capacity to reach other young people whose lives may be spiralling out of control.
If it can save just one young person from the same fate as Greg then it will be worth it.