. . . And In HealthDespite an industry upheaval and two gravely ill sons, this health-care entrepreneur discovered the prescription for perseverance.

It was early 1996, just months after he and his wife, Jacquelyn,founded their contract rehabilitation company, Achievement TherapyProfessionals (ATP) Inc., when Ted Langdon first heard rumblingsthat times, they were a changin' (in the health-care industry,that is). Hearsay trickling down the grapevine of home-health andrehabilitation providers pointed to the inevitable: PresidentClinton's Balanced Budget Act of 1997 would cut back onMedicare, not only bringing about a cap on outpatientrehabilitation services, but also lowering per-visit costs toMedicare-based home-health agencies, hospitals and skilled nursingfacilities.

Sadly, looming business woes were the least of the Langdons'worries that year. In the summer of 1996, at age three, their sonSpencer-twin brother of Tyler-was diagnosed with leukemia,warranting three years of chemotherapy and approximately $1,000worth of medication each month. Faced with circumstances that wouldobliterate the future goals of most, the Langdons didn't fold,but instead expanded ATP's services to override the Medicaremassacre.