"What Lies Within" chronicles the adult life of Gregory "Allen" Patterson. From promising student to hopeless victim, "What Lies Within" tells of the re-emergence of hope after all is seemingly lost. Patterson shares his life changing, physical, emotional, and spiritual journey from tragedy to triumph.
Allen Patterson's tale begins in 1995 as a 19-year-old sophomore Engineering student attending North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Patterson along with two classmates visit Washington D.C. on the weekend of October 13 in order to attend the Million Man March. After a night of taking in the sights and sounds of the D.C. area, Patterson and his party become the victims of an unprovoked shooting.
Patterson, miraculously, surviving the ordeal is now faced with the reality that he may be paralyzed for the remainder of his life. "What Lies Within" gives the emotional account of Allen's fight to maintain his sanity, courage, and some sense of hope after having life, as he knew it, changed suddenly.
Follow along as a young man struggles to climb up from the brink of despair, asking "why me?" to discover the true peace that lies within, responding, "Why not me?" Allen Patterson learns that purpose can be found in the mist of that which seems tragic, as seen in his words," So, there is much more riding on us, than our own lives. The welfare of many others is on the line; we simply cannot surrender hope."