Jan Dravecky

As the cliche says, "Behind every great man is a great woman." This is the case with Jan Dravecky, wife of the former San Francisco Giants baseball pitcher Dave Dravecky. Dave is known to baseball fans around the world for his dramatic 1989 comeback to the major leagues following cancer surgery on his pitching arm. Just as dramatic was Dave's departure from baseball after the return of his cancer and the amputation of his left arm, shoulder and part of his collarbone.

Jan has stood by her high school sweetheart and husband of nearly 20 years all the way. Although she wasn't in the spotlight, the demands upon Jan during Dave's illness were heavy: She needed to care for their two children, Tiffany and Jonathan. Dave needed her support more than ever before. Mounds of fan mail were piling up. Her father passed away. A suicidal friend moved into the house. Grief was pushed aside. There wasn't any time left for Jan.

Over the next year, Jan and Dave went through an incredible odyssey of physical and emotional pain. They experienced the heights and depths of joy and despair, faith and doubt, intimacy and aloneness. Their story, chronicled in the book When You Can't Come Back, has been a powerful source of encouragement to readers of every age and background.

While in the midst of their journey, Jan found herself fighting a crippling depression that refused to lift. Admonitions to "snap out of it" or "pray through it" only left her guilt-ridden and exhausted. Jan tells her own "comeback" story in her newest book, A Joy I'd Never Known. With honesty and candor, she provides a glimpse of how God prepared her and Dave for their ministry to the hurting by first leading them through their own dark, tear-filled valley. Jan went from being a "woman in control" to a woman under God's control.

Due to the overwhelming response to their personal story, Dave and Jan established Dave Dravecky's Outreach of Hope, a non-profit organization which provides hope to those whose lives have been devastated by cancer or amputation. Drawing from the lessons she's learned, Jan speaks to national women's conferences, weekend retreats, and corporate and civic organizations nationwide sharing the hope and encouragement of God's love in the midst of personal pain and tragedy.