Millions of young men and women dream of becoming professional basketball players. Jonathan Bender lived his dream. At age seventeen, Bender was the McDonald’s High School All-American Game MVP, making him one of the most highly touted NBA draft picks ever. At eighteen years old, Bender was a multimillionaire and playing alongside of a future NBA hall of famers like Reggie Miller.

Then, almost overnight, things turned sour for Bender. After suffering a career-ending knee injury, his multimillion dollar contract was terminated. He became yesterday’s news to his teammates and, in the media, was branded as a “washout.” The same writers who praised him as being the next Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant by jumping from high school to the NBA wrote him off, and his dream seemed to be over—all this while having family and friends who didn’t understand that with his new dip in income, he could no longer support them financially.

Others may have folded, but Bender thrived. He created a product to help him rehabilitate his knee, and four years later, he completed one of the most improbable comebacks in the history of professional sports.