Andy Marso

Andy Marso is an award-winning journalist and a survivor of a rare form of meningitis that nearly killed him and resulted in amputations of parts of all of his limbs.

Andy grew up in St. Cloud, Minn., and graduated from St. Cloud Cathedral High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas and a master's from the University of Maryland and his work stops include the St. Cloud Times, Washington Post and Topeka Capital-Journal.

Andy currently lives in Lawrence, Kan., where he enjoys reading, watching KU basketball and spending time with friends, including those who helped him through his four-month hospitalization and the long recovery that followed. He's constantly amazed that many of those friends now have kids. Andy still considers Minnesota home and occasionally finds himself saying "uff-da" when he's not careful.

Follow him on Twitter @andymarso, or check out his sometimes-dormant blog, True Story: http://andymarso.blogspot.com/