Helen Keller overcame the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of deafness and blindness to become an icon of perseverance, respected and honored by readers, historians, and activists. Her autobiography The Story of My Life, published in the United States in 1903, is still read today for its ability to motivate and reassure readers. Helen began working on The Story of My Life while a student at Radcliffe College with help from John Albert Macy, a Harvard professor and future husband of Helen's first teacher and lifelong companion, Anne Sullivan. In the book Keller recounts the first twenty-two years of her life, from her early childhood illness that left her blind and deaf through her second year at Radcliffe College.