Mariam Paré was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She was a college art student sitting at a stop sign  when gunfire broke out across the street. A single bullet passed through the car’s door, hitting her in the neck and the back. And just like that, she was a quadriplegic and unable to walk.

Mariam then embarked on a long and painful process and had to relearn how to do everything. When a therapist taught her how to hold a pencil in her teeth to write, a lightbulb went off. If she could write with a pencil, could she paint with a paintbrush?

The answer was yes. Now, 20 years later, she’s an accomplished painter who is not only earning a living doing what she loves, her paintings are also exhibited and collected nationwide.

She takes us back to that day to describe the shooting and reveals why she didn’t even realize she’d been shot — and paralyzed — until she was in the hospital.

Find out how painting allowed her to start over and live again and why she wishes everyone was an artist.

Before too long, Miriam discovered she wasn’t alone. She learned about the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, and her association with the group even led to her making a living off her art and eventually into the living room of James Bond himself. She explains how Pierce Brosnan ended up inviting her into his Malibu home to deliver the paintings she’d done of him. She talks to us about the bonds they discovered they shared.

Click here to visit MariamPare.com to learn more about the artist and to see examples of her work.