[media-credit name=’YANA PASKOVA’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Thirteen years ago, Mark Zupan's life was changed, and Monday night he came to the University of Wisconsin to tell his story.

Zupan is the star of the Oscar-nominated documentary film "Murderball" that details the United States quadriplegic rugby team that made it to the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.

To an audience at the Memorial Union Theater, Zupan relayed the story of his disability and life as a quadriplegic athlete.

He told the audience the lesson of Monday's lecture was to enjoy the life you lead.

While celebrating a 4-0 win with his college soccer team in 1993 at a bar called Dirty Moe's — known for its five-cent beers and $1 shots — Zupan wandered out of the bar unnoticed and passed out in the bed of his friend's pickup truck.

When his friend later decided to drive his truck home, he spun out of control and Zupan was thrown out of the bed of the truck into a canal — once again, unnoticed.

After 14 hours of solitude in the canal, a businessman eating lunch in his car happened to lower his window and hear Zupan's weak cries for help.

The following, Zupan said, is according to a local emergency official who told Zupan's father, "I don't know how and why your son is alive."

When the emergency personnel found Zupan in the water, he was beyond critical condition.

"They couldn't find my pulse, they couldn't find breathing, they couldn't find anything," Zupan said.

He had surgery for a broken neck. Nobody thought he would survive.

However, Zupan did survive.

Zupan said he often feels like he is teaching people when he tells his story, but said he enjoys it at the same time.

"I like telling stories. … My life is a big story," he said. "I am not sitting there preaching … but I think you guys get the gist of what I was saying — that shit happens and life is short and just because you're in a chair doesn't mean life is over."

UW sophomore Josh Siebert, who works at the Southeast Recreational Facility, said he saw Zupan at the SERF Monday afternoon. He noted Zupan did not want any special treatment because of his disability.

"But he also didn't want any special treatment because of his esteemed ability as an athlete," Siebert said.

Zupan said his friends maintain a similar non-pitying attitude toward his disability and did so during his own critical moments of rehabilitation.

Zupan said that is just the way his friends are and he likes it that way. Some friends also bribed the nurses with lobsters and steaks to let them into Zupan's hospital room after-hours, he added.

"I had so many brothers and sisters," Zupan said, referring to one of his friends who took a convoluted route to the hospital and showed up hours later than the rest of the crowd.

According to Zupan, as his friend entered late, he said, "Oh, Mr. Cripple Boy. You think you got it bad? It took me 10-and-a-half hours to get here."

After living through intensive care and rehabilitation, Zupan said he has a sort of optimistic approach to his life.

When he was able to return to school, Zupan "found rugby," which brought competition back into his life.

But rugby was not all he could focus on. Zupan additionally earned a degree as a civil engineer at Georgia Tech.

"I figured it out," he said. "Rugby wasn't going to pay the bills."

For UW sophomore Oren Rosenberg, Zupan's story was intriguing and helpful to understanding Zupan's role and life outside the movie "Murderball."

"He was just a normal guy who got put in this unusual situation, and it is just interesting to see what a normal person would have to go through, someone just like you," Rosenberg said.

Along with his role in the documentary movie, Zupan maintained a "do whatever it is you want" attitude to the audience.

"You want to stay in school, stay in school. If you want to paint, do music, if you want to do porn, do porn — just don't tell your parents," he said.