FOX Carolina 21Health scares don't keep Upstate couple from adventure

Are there things you have dreamed about doing at some point in your life but have never gotten around to it?

One Upstate couple made a bucket list to fulfill their dreams they never thought were possible.

Bill Ash had a badly damaged knee for 30 years and had been told he could not do anything on it, but after a family tragedy, he decided to take a different perspective on his health--and life.

Ash got a special knee brace at Hanger Prosthetics that allows him to do any physical activity and now he and his wife Debra are working on that bucket list.

Some of the adventures on their bucket list include whitewater rafting, driving race cars, swimming with sharks and manatees, and skydiving.

While the couple was halfway through their bucket list, another tragedy struck. Debra had a severe brain aneurysm and doctors told Bill she would not make it.

But she did.

And five years later, the couple got back to work on their bucket list and took FOX Carolina's Joe Gagnon along with them.

Gagnon joined the Ash's rock climbing in North Carolina in the Pisgah National Forest. And both made it down the 70-foot wall without a problem.

The Ash's hope others will learn from their tragedy and make a bucket list for themselves. Next on their list is alligator wrestling then flying with a jet pack.

As their list says, sit on the porch and watch life go by or get out and run with the big dogs.

Copyright 2011 FOX Carolina. All rights reserved.