What happened to Bill Shoemaker?

Shoemaker died on October 12, 2003, of natural causes at his home in San Marino, California. He was 72 years old.

How did Bill Shoemaker become paralyzed?

Shoemaker recalled that he was alone in his 1990 Ford Bronco II when he reached for his cellphone, lost control of the car and spun down a steep embankment. When he came to, his spinal cord was severed. He was paralyzed with little or no movement below the armpits and destined to live in a wheelchair.

Is the shoemaker’s wife a true story?

The Shoemaker’s Wife is the bestselling novel based on the true story of Adriana’s grandparents who emigrated from Italy to Chisholm, Minnesota on the Iron Range. (Her grandfather, Carlo Bonicelli, was a shoemaker; her grandmother, Lucia “Lucy”, was a seamstress in their shop at 5 West Lake Street.