A retired pro-quarterback is controlled by his debilitating heart disease. Terrified of being trapped in his current quality of life forever, he must decide whether he should go through with a risky surgery to repair his broken and depressed heart.

Grateful to have a reason to escape the brutality of war, an injured American soldier is happy to be in the care of nurses and medics. Unfortunately, the doctor's decision leaves him grappling for reasons to keep fighting.

A man whose body has suffered as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome persists on—despite the bullying and naysayers—as a successful pediatric surgeon and an accomplished wrestler.

Father and parishioner Dave Long sustains a leg injury in a softball game and refuses to have it treated. As his leg worsens, his rocky relationship with his son begins to heal.

As his son recovers from a devastating head injury, a father reflects on what could have been their last moment together.

In an unlikely encounter, a homeless teenage boy recounts harsh events of his life to a writer. He nonchalantly tells of an employer whose assignments caused him to have permanent physical and mental damage.

An injured man lays on a long stretch of sand looking up at the stars; his mind races back to previous injuries and illnesses, but he can't seem to get a grip on where he is or why he's there. He soon realizes that he's a long way from home, in outer space.

After losing a fight, a professional wrestler navigates loss, guilt, and self-worth and explores his love-hate relationship with fighting.

Hog Hammond, head football coach at Mississippi Southern University, mulls feverishly over his life’s work and family history as he becomes more and more convinced his heart is giving out. Legacy football player and Mississippi Southern University head coach Hog Hammond starts feeling all-consuming pain swell in and out of body, his heart swilling and thrashing in waves of blood. Convinced he’s going to die; he speaks freely to his wife and family, asking the questions he’s always had for them.

A writer gives an account of his friend Dr. Tokai, a kind and sophisticated plastic surgeon who died after his first real heartbreak.