Goodwill's sweet-natured revenue accountant, 45-year-old Terence Smith, barrels down the corporate hallways with a smile so huge that he literally beams from ear to ear. He is an imposing figure, 6 feet 1 inch tall and 270 pounds. Despite two prosthetic feet he walks with a confident gait and only a slight limp. "I feel alive now that I am working," he says proudly. "When you are working you are doing something for your community and for your fellow man or woman."

Terence is certainly making an important contribution. As revenue accountant at Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties, he is responsible for supervising the sales and cash records of 17 stores, as well as keeping track of salvage, donations, the E-Store and Goodwill's growing computer recycling program.

Terence's triumphant life today contrasts sharply with the anguish he felt six years ago, when he had to abandon his part-time accounting job and nearly lost his life to diabetes. He describes the horror he felt on an August night in 2000 "when I was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. My foot had turned black and my blood sugar had shot up to 750." The home remedies he had used to treat his crippling pain were no match for the disease that was ravaging his body. Over the next three years, Terence was forced to undergo repeated surgery and the amputation of both feet.

"I feared that I would keep losing my body parts. I had moments where I didn't know whether I was going to live or die. But I always had faith and the determination to go forward and face up to adversity."

At first, Terence recalls, "I had to re-learn the simple things that we all take for granted, like dressing, washing, and walking." He carried a cane to steady himself as he grew accustomed to walking with prostheses.

He graduated to rigorous daily workouts at the gym, and finally got his diabetes under control. In 2003, pronounced medically fit to work, he went job hunting only to face rejection by 50 prospective employers. "Because of the large gap in my resume and my physical disability, nobody wanted to take a chance on me," he recalls. He exhausted his social security disability benefits and was nearly destitute.

Then, in 2004, he got his big break. He was referred to Goodwill's Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) Establishment Grant Program, which provides employment preparation, job placement and job retention services to people with disabilities. "The staff at Goodwill was so warm and encouraging, I felt like I didn't want to give up. I felt like somebody believed in me." Through the program, and working with Job Placement Supervisor Kirill Elistratov, he "gained self-confidence and learned how to conduct myself in a job interview. I learned to convince potential employers that I could do the job despite my physical disability."

After Goodwill staff assessed his skills, they directed him to an in-depth Quick Books accounting software class, where he was able to improve his rusty accounting skills and master the software. "The training got me up to speed so I could be more competitive in the workplace."

Impressed with his resilience, enthusiasm and enhanced skills, Goodwill's finance department hoped to keep him from going elsewhere. After a formal interview process, they offered him a full-time job. Terence has been with Goodwill since last summer, and his steady paycheck enables him to support himself, as well as financially help his mother. She and Terence share a home in San Francisco.

For a man who just six years ago wasn't sure if he would live, never mind walk again, it's been a journey of 10,000 steps. But every step been a gift, says Terence. "Because I am working, I can stand up and be counted. I'm worth something to somebody."