Nick Vujicic

Nicholas James "Nick" Vujicic (/ˈvɔɪ.ɪtʃɪtʃ/ VOY-ich-ich;^{[note 1]} Serbian: [ʋûjitʃitɕ]; born 4 December 1982^[2][3]) is an Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with phocomelia,^[4] a rare disorder characterized by the absence of legs and arms.

Biography

Early life and family

Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1982, to Dušanka and Borislav Vujičić, devout Serbian Orthodox emigrants from Yugoslavia.^[5] His parents became active in a Melbourne church. His mother attended nursing school at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne while his father worked in business management. He was born with phocomelia without some fully formed limbs. According to his autobiography, his mother refused to see him or hold him while the nurse held him in front of her, but she and her husband eventually accepted their son's condition and understood it as God's plan for their son.^[6]

Vujicic has two small and deformed feet, one of which he calls his "chicken drumstick" because of its shape.^[7] Originally, he was born with the toes of that foot fused. An operation was performed to separate the toes so that he could use them as fingers to grab, turn a page, or perform other functions.^[8] He has been able to use his foot to operate an electric wheelchair, a computer and a mobile phone. Vujicic notes that he had an "amazingly normal childhood".

Vujicic thrived in his teenage and young adult years despite being bullied. After his mother showed him a newspaper article about a man dealing with a severe disability when he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group.^[9]

He graduated from Griffith University at the age of 21 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with a double major in accountancy and financial planning.

Career

Vujicic speaking during the session "Inspired for a Lifetime" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on 30 January 2011

Vujicic started his speaking engagements at 19. In 2005, he founded an international non-profit organisation and ministry, Life Without Limbs.

In 2007, Vujicic founded Attitude is Altitude, a secular motivational speaking company.^[10] He starred in the short film The Butterfly Circus.^[11] At the 2010 Method Fest Independent Film Festival, he was awarded Best Actor in a Short Film for his starring performance as Will.^[12]

Beliefs

On his webpages, in a self-formulated "Statement of Faith", Vujicic states his adherence to born-again Christianity,^[13] to classically Calvinist notions on sin and redemption and to Biblical inerrancy without specifying what particular understanding of Biblical inerrancy he intends to mean. His tenets of faith also include the imminent Second Coming of Christ. He does not publicly identify with or adhere to any denomination or congregation.

Personal life

Vujicic speaking to students in Florida in 2015

On 12 February 2012, Vujicic married Kanae Miyahara. The couple have two sons and live in Southern California.^[14]

Books and publications

His first book, Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life, was published by Random House in 2010 and has been translated into more than 30 languages.^[15] He markets a motivational DVD, Life's Greater Purpose, a short documentary filmed in 2005. The second part of the DVD was filmed at his local church in Brisbane. He markets a DVD for young people titled No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!.

• Life Without Limits: Inspiration of a Ridiculously Good Life (2010). ISBN 978-0307589743
• Your Life Without Limits (2012). ISBN 978-0307731043
• Limitless: Devotions for a Ridiculously Good Life (2013). ISBN 978-0307730916
• Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action (2013). ISBN 978-0307730893
• The Power of Unstoppable Faith (2014). ISBN 978-1601426765
• Stand Strong (2015). ISBN 978-1601427823
• Love Without Limits (2016). ISBN 978-1601426185

See also

• Hirotada Ototake, a sports writer and another survivor of tetra-amelia syndrome
• Joanne O'Riordan from Ireland
• Jennifer Bricker, an American acrobat born without legs
• Todd Huston, an American motivational speaker, author, mountain climber, and inventor

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nick Vujicic.

• Life Without Limbs website