As he sifted through the scattered photos – there were hundreds, along with videos, letters and school art projects – Michael Ramsey realized he had a bigger job than just organizing his family pictures.

“This was his legacy,” Ramsey said of his son Eric, now 36. “And it was the way to tell his story long after I was gone. Sitting there in the living room, that’s when I started writing the book.”

Beside Me is a tribute to Eric, one of the triplet sons born to Ramsey and his wife, Sharon, less than a year after the couple had a baby daughter. All three boys were born with heart defects that required surgical repair.

Eric also became ill with viral meningitis, delaying his cardiac procedure and triggering complications so severe he came within hours of death. He emerged with cognitive disabilities and struggled to communicate. “About the only thing he did was just stare at himself in a mirror,” Ramsey said. “He was able to walk, but he didn’t speak.”

And then one day, when he was around 12, Eric bounded ahead of his parents in a grocery-store parking lot. “Hold on, we’ll be there,” Ramsey remembers saying. Eric stopped, turned around and said, “Beside me?”

From that moment on, his language steadily improved. “He was just thriving,” Ramsey said.

Though his developmental disabilities did not disappear, Eric found ways to excel. He couldn’t play football, so he opted for water boy and social mascot. At Hilliard Davidson High School, he became “the kid who knew exactly when the football team was on a roll,” Ramsey said. “He’d turn around and encourage the spectators and the whole team got involved.”

Eric was named Senior of the Year and received the senior class “Heart of the Lion” award.

He remains active in Special Olympics, loves movies and Broadway shows and his Indiana Jones-style hat. He’s close to his brothers and sister, and shares a home with his parents in Dublin. In 2012, Eric helped his family found Beside Me, a day habilitation center for adults with disabilities.

Ramsey, a former radio broadcaster, is now retired “and enjoying my time as Eric’s wingman.” He hopes his son’s story will be seen as one of love, perseverance and resilience. “I knew that somebody, somewhere down the road, was going to have to remember this.”

Beside Me is available through Barnes and Noble and Amazon.