The author was born in 1972 in North Tonawanda. He graduated from the North Tonawanda Senior High School in 1990 and became a volunteer firefighter with the Sweeney Hose Fire Company No. 7 that same year. After graduating from Niagara University with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, he completed his post graduate studies at SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine. He completed a residency in emergency medicine and now works in the Buffalo, NY area as a board certified emergency medicine physician. He resides with his wife and three children in a town east of North Tonawanda.