CHAPEL HILL - A book that started off as a favor for a friend may become an inspiration to others with disabilities who are seeking to lead a full life.

“Still Hopping, Still Hoping” is the story of Carla Shuford, 68, long-time and well-known resident of Chapel Hill, by Rita Berman, also of Chapel Hill.

During a recent interview, Berman said the book began as an effort to help Shuford compile a scrapbook of her writings and grew into a biography, showing how Shuford has managed to lead a very full life despite her disability.

Wire-bound and locally published by VIP Printing with photos pasted in by hand, the book chronicles Shuford’s life as an amputee, after having lost a leg to cancer at the early age of 15.

“I had a prognosis of four to six months (after the amputation),” Shuford said. “I never expected to graduate from high school. … Now I’m the healthiest at high school reunions.

“I’m considered one of the ‘cured incurables.’”

It isn’t easy, Shuford continued. “The very reason hope is so important is because it is hard,” she said. “It’s a rough road.”

There are times when she still doesn’t feel equal … on the anniversary of her amputation in September, and around Christmas.

Recalling the amputation over 50 years ago, she said, “Anything like that is worse when you’re a teenager.

“When I got back from the hospital, my father noticed I was struggling, and would try to be kind,” Shuford said. As one of the stories in the book points out, she would get angry and say she didn’t want help.

Her father went to see an amputee in a remote area of the county, “One-Arm John,” for advice.

One-Arm John said, “If you want a happy child, leave her alone and let her learn her own way. But, if she ever says she needs help, be there.”

Shuford said, “I believe it was One-Arm John’s advice that got me on the right track.”

Healthy habits

Swimming and the farmers’ markets – what she calls her medicine – keep Shuford healthy.

She shows up early in the morning six days a week at the Chapel Hill Community Center pool on South Estes Drive. “I’m such a regular, if I’m not there by 5:30, I get calls,” she said.

“Swimming is emotional and spiritual,” she continued. “I fight gravity every minute except when I’m in the pool.”

Shuford also says she is “religious about eating organic. … I don’t want to give anyone false hope, but I believe my introduction to non-toxic foods has kept me on a path to good health.

She is a regular at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market, as well as at the Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market on South Estes Drive. She visits local farmers during winter to place her orders well in advance, and she keeps her freezer full of berries.

Meanwhile, she frequents Tom Robinson’s Seafood on Thursdays, where she barters recycled newspapers for salmon bones for her cat.

Shuford’s penchant for organic and non-toxic foods goes back to well before they became popular, when she began to follow a special diet prescribed by Max Gerson, M.D., of New York, as an alternative therapy for cancer patients after her leg was amputated.

A full life

After being raised on a dairy farm near Tryon, N.C., Shuford worked as a legal secretary before moving to Chapel Hill, where she held a number of jobs within the UNC system before retiring in 1988.

She also has taught illiterate adults at Durham Technical Community College, and has traveled extensively … sometimes on the urging of bets placed among the regulars at the grill at Sutton’s Drug Store.

She even has placed high in golf tournaments for amputees.

As for more work in helping others, she has volunteered to visit with amputees at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, as well as at UNC Hospitals.

When asked what she would say to someone facing an amputation, she said, “Keep hopping. Keep hoping.”

Spreading a gift

Shuford and Berman met in 2010 while co-moderating a story-telling class for Shared Learning of Chapel Hill at Celebration Assembly of God Church.

Berman said she originally gave Shuford seven copies as a Christmas gift in 2011. Word got around, and as of early March, about 70 copies had been sold.

“The way it’s taken on a life of its own shows it’s still a small town,” Shuford said.

Altogether, Berman said 35 people are mentioned in the book, although it was not possible to mention everyone who has made a difference.

London-born Berman is the author of “The A-Z of Writing and Selling,” and her works have appeared in more than 500 diverse publications in the United States and England.

The book is Berman’s first biography, and she said Shuford is “the most unforgettable character I’ve ever met.”