Unseen Heroes

A disability is any kind of condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do a variety of activities or interact with the world. There are a plethora of conditions that make a person unable to live a normal life. Also, a lot of disabilities are not obvious and society tends to treat people with special needs with well-behaved discomfort.

That’s the painful truth. Nobody wants or wishes to be a disabled person. Unfortunately, although most countries are doing their very best to establish better living conditions for the majority of disabled people, the society and communities around them are not always open-minded or respectful towards them.

Let’s take my case as an example. Only my close family members and friends know that I have a severe disability both in my arms and legs. The last 20 years had been a living hell due to tremendous pain in the bones and joints. Every morning, my days start with a certain set of exercises just to make my joints function.

For every step I take, the pain is killing my brain little by little. On the good days I can walk without the help of my cane, but on the bad days … let’s say that I have the time to read all the new books that are published each year, lying in my chair or my bed.

You may wonder, why I share this personal story today. Today, 3 December, is International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). It was about time to unveil my bittersweet story about my disability. Everything started 20 years ago but an innocent question, from a colleague, triggered the decision to share my life story.

Why did you stop running?

That was an innocent question from a kind colleague to me, an ex-professional marathon runner. He didn’t know that I used to run long-distance marathons from 15 years old up to 28.

This innocent question broke me into pieces.

I stared at the corner with all the medals on the wall, the pictures with my country’s flag on my shoulder and I remembered the breeze in my hair when I was running long-distance marathons. The first time I won a silver medal in a marathon I was only 15 yrs old. In the following years, I had the privilege to run global events all over the world. Now I only have the medals on the wall, next to all the photographs. Next to my cane.

My big dream was to participate in The Athens Classic Marathon The Authentic. It is perhaps the most difficult major marathon race: the course is uphill from the 10km mark to the 31 km mark – the toughest uphill climb of any major marathon. The course begins in the town of Marathon, where it passes the tomb of the Athenian soldiers, and it traces a path near the coast through Nea Makri. Following the steep rise, the course goes slightly downhill towards the city of Athens. It passes a statue of a runner in the city center before finishing up at the Panathinaiko Stadium.

Although I was traveling often, I had never skipped any of my training sessions. I still remember the excitement when I had my physical exams before my registration as an official athlete. When I was 28, the unthinkable happened. The medical exams gave me the worst news ever: a rare autoimmune disease was melting my bones.

Running was out of the question for the rest of my life.

I wanted to die.

It took me many years and a tremendous effort to accept my disability. Since then, on the good days, I can walk on my own. On the bad days, I need support just to stand on my feet. But, my dream to cover by foot the distance between Marathon and Athens, kept me active.

Back in 2014, my family and my friends helped me to walk from Marathon to the Panathinaiko Stadium. With the support of my cane, my two weak legs and my fearless heart, I walked the original Marathon Route 26.2 miles(42.17 km) in 12 hours and 50 minutes.

I can not run anymore but I can walk with the help of my cane.

And I have never stopped since that day.

Today, I collected all my medals in a paper box and gave them away. My colleague’s question made me realize that this wall needs new medals.

My disability to walk never stopped me to do anything in life, but society did on several occasions. We are living in a world where not being young and healthy are punished as the ultimate faults and sins. But it's ok...Life goes on, no matter what.