WOODSTOCK – One of Patrick Harris’ previous jobs was a strength coach at the University of Maine, where he taught athletes how to lift weights.

And although Harris can no longer use most of his body, he is still a strength coach in a way, helping disabled people build themselves up so they can have robust lives.

Next week, Harris’ first book, “Quadriplegics Can Do,” will hit the printing press. It will be available in late September. He will use the proceeds from the self-published book to start a nonprofit that assists paralyzed people in Maine.

“It’s a book that I hope can inspire anyone,” he said recently, lying in his bed at the chalet he built in Bryant Pond village. It is filled with natural light, American Indian artifacts and overflowing bookcases. He wants to help not just quadriplegics, he added, but “anyone who faces great odds.”

Completing the book took 18 months of writing four hours a day, with him dictating his words – which he said multiplied after his paralysis – to personal care attendants.

“My ability to draw on my vocabulary became a gift,” he said.

The book is part practical guide, part political diatribe on stem cell research, and part inspirational anecdotes from his own adventures as a quadriplegic, which range from skydiving to scuba diving and making long wheelchair journeys across the state.

“I’m showing what quads can do,” he said. “I’m trying to give others in my condition spirit and motivation.”

Harris, who has a shaved head, wears silver studs in his ears and still looks strong from his years as a football player, equestrian, weight lifter, and outdoor recreational leader, lost the use of his body from the neck down in an accident five years ago in Palmyra. His car hit a patch of black ice and slid out of control. He was 44.

After grieving for many months over the severe limitations he was forced to accept in his life, the former social worker from Bar Harbor decided to carry on with helping others.

“Having been paralyzed has provided me a forum to help people in different ways than I ever imagined,” he said.

The nonprofit he hopes to establish, Wounded Lion Paralysis Victims Care, will reach out to others recently paralyzed, offering counsel and guidance to resources, and even some financial help, Harris said.

“It will help them acclimate to their new life of paralysis,” he said.

Jeremy Barnard, a state vocational rehabilitation counselor, said he has been personally affected by working with Harris during the past two years. Harris received $8,700 from the Maine Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to finish his book.

“He’s had a positive effect in my life,” Barnard said. “Seeing someone who lives such a vibrant life and varied life as Patrick did become paralyzed and still have the spirit to go on and make the most of his life is inspiring to me.”

In 2003, Harris gained notoriety when he traveled from Fort Kent to Kittery, 417 miles, at about 12 miles per hour in his wheelchair, which is powered by his breath. He was raising awareness for stem cell research, which might hold the answer for returning mobility to those with spinal cord injuries.

He will do another cross-state trek in about a month, aligning it with book signings at stops along the way. Harris said he will also donate some money from the sales of his book to research centers investigating stem cells.

One of his stops will be the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory, which studies marine animal stem cells and which Harris has named as one of the future recipients of his donations.

“Something like this hasn’t happened before,” Geri Bowers, a spokeswoman for the lab, said. “I think that it’s a great thing, and it sounds like he’s very interested in doing the trek across Maine and bringing increased awareness and interest in stem cell research.”

This week, news broke of a new method for harvesting stem cells that will not destroy the human embryo. Although stem cell research advocates are hopeful this could quell President George W. Bush’s and others’ concerns about killing embryos, it is not clear how the development will affect the political battle raging around this medical process.

“That’s great news, isn’t it? It’s moving forward,” Harris said, adding that his job of calling attention to stem cells will remain important to promote funding.

And after he has sold his first 1,500 books, Harris said he will head to Washington, D.C., in his chair to speak with Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a medical doctor and conservative congressman who supports stem cell research. Then he hopes to address Congress.

Assistants will follow him in a van with blinking lights.

But he has to squeeze in the trip before he heads to Kruger National Park in South Africa for a safari, where he might spot the animal he most identifies with.

His publishing company is called Wounded Lion Publishing because he said wounded lions are great fighters.

“Wounded lions at the end are their fiercest,” Harris said.