A week before Thanksgiving in 2008, Eric Seitz, a homeless youth, arrived in Harborview Medical Center with a flesh-eating disease -- the result of injecting drugs with a dirty needle. He was in a coma until just before Christmas and nearly lost a leg to amputation.

Drawing inspiration from three months of hospitalization and therapy, he began to pursue pre-reqs for nursing school. Last fall, he was accepted to the UW School of Nursing program. A video documents his story.