It would be fair to say that most of us born healthy and with a roof over our heads take our lucky start in life for granted. But we can all learn from these following three people who, like thousands of adults around the world, didn't have the fairest start in life, but still managed to surpass all expectations.
Elizabeth 'Liz' Murray was born in the Bronx, New York, to poor parents that were addicted to drugs and infected with HIV. Liz was made homeless at 15 years of age when her mum died of AIDS and her dad moved into a homeless shelter. But despite having to provide and care for herself and her sister, Liz attended the Humanities Preparatory Academy School in Manhattan and graduated in just two years.
She was awarded the New York Times' scholarship in the year 2000 to the prestigious Harvard University, where, between having to look after her dying father, she persevered through hard work and graduated in 2009 with a psychology degree. Her book 'Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story' and her career as a motivational speaker mean she is now helping others overcome adversity.
Nick Vujicic from Melbourne, Australia, has overcome the much more physical restrictions placed on him. Born with Tetra-amelia syndrome, Nick is limbless with no arms, legs and a single foot protruding from his thigh. Despite this, he's active, regularly enjoying playing football and golf and going surfing. He graduated with a degree in Accounting and Financial Planning and, like Liz, has become a motivational speaker for young people.
And finally, perhaps the most famous of them all, is the British cosmologist and theoretical physicist, Professor Stephen Hawking. Hawking's complete paralysis is due to an illness called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a form of Motor Neuron Disease), but despite this he has managed to change the modern way of thinking about time and space. In the 1980s, Hawking also lost his voice due to pneumonia, which means that all his thoughts are recorded via an infrared 'blink switch' computer system.
Elizabeth 'Liz' Murray was born in the Bronx, New York, to poor parents that were addicted to drugs and infected with HIV. Liz was made homeless at 15 years of age when her mum died of AIDS and her dad moved into a homeless shelter. But despite having to provide and care for herself and her sister, Liz attended the Humanities Preparatory Academy School in Manhattan and graduated in just two years.
She was awarded the New York Times' scholarship in the year 2000 to the prestigious Harvard University, where, between having to look after her dying father, she persevered through hard work and graduated in 2009 with a psychology degree. Her book 'Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story' and her career as a motivational speaker mean she is now helping others overcome adversity.
Nick Vujicic from Melbourne, Australia, has overcome the much more physical restrictions placed on him. Born with Tetra-amelia syndrome, Nick is limbless with no arms, legs and a single foot protruding from his thigh. Despite this, he's active, regularly enjoying playing football and golf and going surfing. He graduated with a degree in Accounting and Financial Planning and, like Liz, has become a motivational speaker for young people.
And finally, perhaps the most famous of them all, is the British cosmologist and theoretical physicist, Professor Stephen Hawking. Hawking's complete paralysis is due to an illness called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a form of Motor Neuron Disease), but despite this he has managed to change the modern way of thinking about time and space. In the 1980s, Hawking also lost his voice due to pneumonia, which means that all his thoughts are recorded via an infrared 'blink switch' computer system.