My
name is VASILE STOICA. I was born in June 1970 in the village of Maguri
Racatau from the Cluj region in Transylvania to a large,
poor family of three sisters and four brothers, myself being the
fourth born.
Born with congenital paraplegia, I spent seven years moving from one
hospital to another, undergoing 13 operations at both legs. Unfortunately,
these interventions didn't help
and I was forced to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. After
the hospitalizations, I attended a special school in the village of
Jucu de Sus in the Cluj region, where I graduated VIII forms with
other physically disabled children. During that time, I didn't have
even a wheelchair. I was
referred to as a "crawler," a name given in Jucu to the children
who moved using only their hands because they didn't have wheelchair
access. In 1985 my father died and, from then on, the hardships
for my family grew very severe as he was the one who provided an
incomes.
In
1991 I moved to Lugoj where I graduated from the painting department
of
the Art School. Painting was a hobby
of mine since childhood. My gift was appreciated,
and I took part in exhibitions and tried to support myself from painting.
In 1992 I visited France and saw that disabled people there practiced
sports and that's when I decided to become a wheelchair sportsman
myself.
In
the spring of 1993, The Lugoj Association of the Physically Disabled,
of which I was a member, was invited
to participate at the European Conference
for Disabled People, which was held in Siofok, Hungary. I decided to
make the whole distance from Lugoj to Siofok by manual wheelchair
as a gesture of friendship. I rode 340 Km in 4 days.
In
May 1993 I took part into the CHALLENGE DAY marathon held in Bucharest.
I was the first wheelchair user from
Romania to take part in this marathon.
In
August 1993 I began a new tour. This time I wanted to journey to
France.
My "Marathon of Courage" meant traveling 3400Km. by wheelchair,
which I accomplished in 40 days. I rode through Hungary, Austria, Germany and France. The aim
for this tour was to participate at the national conference of the BUGIES De NOEL. My tour was
also a gesture of friendship and a way to thank all the people and associations who had helped the disabled people from Romania. My courage of starting alone in this tour set an example for all
disabled people in Romania. I became a public person who was known and appreciated both in Romania and abroad.
My gesture was appreciated so much that I was received by Mrs. DANIELLE MITTERAND at the Ellysse Palace.
When I returned home, I began training and participating with
other friends from Lugoj in various disability sports competitions.
In a short while I became a champion in speed and resistance. In 1994
I established the Sports Club of the Physically Disabled,
called MARATHON '93 Lugoj. I was nominated the club's president.
Quickly, our club became the strongest competitor of disability sports
in the country.
In
1995 I decided to embark on A WHEELCHAIR WORLD TOUR, with the aim
of participating
at the opening of the PARALYMPIC
GAMES in ATLANTA. I left Bucharest on May 15th, 1995. I rode through
ROMANIA, HUNGARY, SLOVAKIA, POLAND, SWEDEN, DENMARK, GERMANY, HOLLAND,
BELGIUM, and FRANCE. Unfortunately,
I was forced to abort the tour at the Spanish border due to lack of
sponsors. I was very sad because my physical condition was very
good and the participation at the PG was a very cherished dream. But
I didn't give up.
In May 1998, I began a ROUND THE WORLD TOUR by wheelchair. I returned in May
1999 after crossing parts of Europe (Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France), Canada, U.S.A., Australia
(east coast from Melbourne to Cairns), North Africa (Egypt), Turkey, Bulgaria and
Romania.
On
OCTOBER 20-21, 2001,VALENCIA, CA , I broke the Guinness World
Record for covering the longest distance in a wheelchair in 24-hours.
I beat the existing
77.58 mile record in 19 hours and 16 minutes. I continued to go more
laps around the 400 meter track for a final 24-hour record of 82
miles. The event ended with a group of neighborhood children running
the last lap.
My
world record attempt will be part of BROKEN WINGS, a new documentary
series about extraordinary disabled people being produced by Amphion
Productions (www.amphionpro.com
/ www.brokenwings.tv)
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