Matej Lednik

Motorcycles have always been my passion. I officially began riding them at the age of 14, unofficially in first grade. I loved to drive on winding roads, as all motorcyclists I loved them. Until one beautiful day in August when I woke up in a hospital with a broken back and a damaged spinal cord...

Peter Planinšek

I was a professional truck driver. During work I saw many accidents, some with a fatal outcome. They always gave me the chills. Despite everything I felt safe in the cab of my truck. I didn't believe it could happen to me. But I soon realized how wrong I was. Because of another person's error I too am now a disabled person!

Borut Pervanja

I just got a new job, which was why I went drinking with my friends. Just a drink or two ... or three... After a few glasses we went home. I had had the driving licence for a few months and did not want to leave the car in front of the bar, so I said to myself: "Well, I didn't drink that much. I can drive these few metres..." But those few metres were fatal. I drove too quickly into the last corner before my house. Now I am living with the consequences of drunk driving - sitting in my wheelchair.

Janez Hudej

The roar of the engine, speeding and tire squeaking didn't get me home faster. Quite the contrary. I never got home. I ended up lying unconscious underneath the hot engine of my cart next to a road in a forest. When I woke up several days later the first news I remember hearing was: "Boy, you will never walk again!"

Jože Ovčar

I knew the roads and traffic regulations very well, as a bus driver I had to follow them. I knew all the Slovene roads and a few European roads as well. When I had some spare time I decided to go on a trip with my motorcycle. Since I had started a family I decided to sell the motorcycle. I said to myself: "Maybe I will buy it again when I'm a bit older..." ... and took off on my last ride. It was literally the last one. At a low speed I slid off the road in a corner and damaged my spinal cord.

Vesna Novak

Just before the end of the summer holidays and the start of the study year I spent Saturday night having a drink at my friend's place. Then I wanted to drive to my boyfriend's. My friend talked me into having another drink, so I decided to drive there along with an acquaintance of hers. While talking to her in the car I looked out in front of me and saw a truck's stop lights, but it was too late! The truck driver crashed into another truck that was standing in line. He was drunk, but we didn't notice it. On that day I didn't get to see my boyfriend and ended up in hospital due to a serious injury... After a long and difficult rehabilitation I can now walk on crutches.

Barbara Slaček

I had just finished my schooling, found a job and created a home for myself. But bad luck never rests as it didn't on that winter evening when me and my friends slid out of the curve due to speeding and a slippery road. If I would have used the seat belt my life would be much easier today. I suffered numerous and almost fatal internal injuries, but a broken back was the one injury that changed my life forever.

Klaudia Pinterič

I grew up with cars, motorcycles... I had already driven a huge number of kilometres, all the way from Finland to Albania.

I was a young woman with set goals that I wanted to achieve. I wanted to have a family. But one day I sat in the passenger seat of a car just 20 km away from home and woke up from a coma a month later. I always remember ... that I am now a paraplegic and it is not even my own fault!

Denis Šebjan

In 1993, at the age of 19, I had a motorcycle accident in Murska Sobota. I was driving on the main road when a car drove out of the parking lot right in front of me. I must admit that I was speeding through town - the speed limit was 60 km/h. I suffered severe internal injuries and lost both legs under the knee right then and there. I got thrown into the guard rail standing next to a tree at the side of the road.

After recovering in the Murska Sobota hospital my left leg stump got infected, so they drove me to the emergency department of the Ljubljana Medical Centre and then to the department of plastic surgery. Next came the rehabilitation at UZRI Soča, where I finally came to terms with what happened to me and realized that I can be grateful that the whole thing did not end even more tragically and that my legs can luckily be replaced, unlike a damaged spine, head or loss of life (they say we have only one life). That was my main motivation which helped me take on the tasks that awaited me.

After rehabilitation I had to find a different job. I couldn't do the work of a machine mechanic anymore - a craft that my great grandfather started with his forge. I could not do it anymore, because it is a physical work where a person needs to stand on his feet. First I finished the high school of economics and worked at Mura Ltd. for thirteen years. During that time I built a house and started visiting a vocational college in Murska Sobota. In 2008 I successfully finished my studies and graduated. I got a job at the Radenci Home for the Elderly where I have now been working for a year. I must also mention that I am married and have one child.

I have very good prosthetic legs and have never given up, which allows me to lead a »normal« life. In addition to walking I also ride a bike and a motorcycle, though not a racing one anymore because the roads are too crowded and there is a lack of culture among drivers. I want to contribute to greater road traffic safety because the number of fatal accidents on Slovene roads is horrifyingly huge each year.

Vinko Hren

My motorcycle accident happened on 26th June 1989. I was a good twenty years old. I just came home from serving in the army. I didn't have the money to pay for my motorcycle registration so I rode the bike without one. I thought: "I don't need a registration. Young people can't get hurt!" But lo and behold, it happened to me. When I was on my way to work in Slovenske Konjice an unknown driver driving from the opposite direction came into the corner driving on my side of the road. I ended up lying unconscious in a ditch and woke up in the Celje Hospital. There were tubes coming out of me and I was connected to all sorts of apparatuses. They told me that they operated on my spine and everything was going to be fine. A few days later I had another operation because the crushed dorsal vertebrae weren't fixated enough. After two months they sent me to additional rehabilitation to UZRI Soča, where I found out that I would never walk again because my spinal cord had been damaged in the accident. Thus started my long rehabilitation. I was constantly in pain, so I had to have another surgery on my spine.

I didn't give up. I began to take up sports - athletics, marathon running, swimming and basketball. I went to sports competitions abroad. But my goal was not only sport. I wanted to start my own family. And where there's a will there's a way. In 1992 I met my wife Klaudija. Our relationship soon became serious and we decided to have a baby. In 1999 our son Žiga was born and today he is a beautiful young man. We are very proud of him.

However, my back pain got worse and became unbearable, so I had to undergo surgery two more times. The second surgery was necessary because of a sports injury. I cracked my ribs while playing basketball. My spinal column began to collapse which caused me even more trouble. The last rehabilitation gave me new will. I am still involved in sports, but not as much - just enough to calm my soul.  I spend more and more time hanging out with friends and am actively involved in various activities of the Paraplegic Society of SW Styria, so I never have enough time to do everything I need to!

Simon Gračner

On Saturday 28th May 2008, as many times before, me and my friends decided to explore the surrounding hills on our four wheelers. Under Svetina my four wheeler turned on its side and started rolling down the hill. From that moment on I can't remember much... I woke up 14 days later on a bed in the Celje Hospital. I had many broken bones, damaged lungs and spleen, but my worst injury were the damaged dorsal vertebrea. The diagnosis? Paraplegia - for most people only a word, but for us paraplegics a completely different way of living. After three months of hospital treatment I continued my rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute in Ljubljana, where I stayed for five months. When I finally got back home the real rehabilitation (the lifelong one) began...

Now, almost five years after the accident, I can finally say that I am leading a similar life as before the accident, but in a slightly different way. We must turn every situation we find ourselves in to our advantage, or as the saying goes... When life gives you lemons... make lemonade!

Slavko Mikec

Until 1977 I was a healthy and happy child. Then I had an accident. While I was crossing the road a car hit me. From then on I am in a wheelchair. My injury was to the right side of my body... my right arm and the third and fourth vertebrae...

I attended primary school and high school at the institute which educates disabled youth (then called ZUIM) in Kamnik. During schooling I began to engage in various sports, both recreationally and competitively. I am looking forward to new victories in sports and my life.