The Cripple's Avatar: a short story

An L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest Semi-Finalist (2004) under the title, “Avatar”

Carver's wish to escape his frail, crippled body comes true when a doctor's controversial process allows him to copy his soul into a new body. But will Carver's dream turn into a nightmare, or will he finally get to live life and find love, like a "normal" human being.