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Photo by Keith McCoy.
Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
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Photo by Keith McCoy.
Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
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Photo by Keith McCoy.
Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
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Photo by Keith McCoy.
Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
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Photo by Keith McCoy.
Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
Several words stood out as a repeated theme throughout Bob Lujano’s speech during the 25th annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast held at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, April 28.
“The Lord provides, he always provides.”
Lujano, a Hoover resident, is the author of the book No Arms, No Legs, No Problem. He suffered physical abuse as a child and at the age of 9, contracted a rare form of meningitis.
He was told he was going to die.
“I went to bed and in the morning…I woke up,” he said. “It was then I knew that I had a purpose, there was as reason that I was still alive.”
Over the next three years, Lujano would undergo 20 operations. Both his arms and legs were amputated. Instead of giving up, he became an unstoppable force. He went on to earn his undergraduate degree from Texas-Arlington as well as a masters in sport management from the University of Tennessee. He won a bronze medal in the 2004 Paralympic Games in wheelchair rugby. He was also featured in the Academy Award-nominated documentary about wheelchair rugby, Murderball.
“The most difficult part of disability is the mental aspect,” Lujano said. “The thing my dad taught me was to make light of it.”
In his current role at the Lakeshore Foundation in Homewood, he is an information specialist through the National Center of Health Promotions Physical Activity and Disability. Lujano is also an inspirational motivational speaker as well as a national advocate for athletes with disabilities.
“It is one of the biggest honors of my life to be standing up here today and addressing this community,” he said.
“This man meets every challenge he accepts and we can all benefit from doing the same,” said Mayor Butch Zaragoza. “He’s just tremendous.”
Part of the reason Lujano wrote the book, with co-author Tara Schiro, was to “shatter stereotypes and myths,” he said. The Hoover resident lives in his own home, drives and does daily living like anyone else without assistance.
“I feel that I’m what an independent person in Birmingham is supposed to be doing. I have my own job. I’m involved in my community, in my church, with my sports team … it’s about being as active as you can and being a part of your community.”
Another part of the reason he wrote the book was to thank God for what he’d been through. And that is a message that is certainly particular to Lujano’s journey but can be adapted to anyone’s life.
“More than anything, it’s to make people realize that no matter what you go through – and some people will hear my story and say, ‘You really got a bad deal from age 5 to 10’ – at the end of the day, I’m still thankful for the struggles, the hard times, because they shape who you are and who you’re going to be.”
