Ronan Tynan

I feel like such a slacker! Consider Ronan Tynan. The man was born with a lower limb disability, but that didn’t keep him from riding horses and racing motorcycles as a boy. When he was twenty, his legs had to be amputated below the knee . He was climbing up the steps of his college dorm just weeks after the operation, and within a year he was an athlete winning gold medals in the Paralympics. Between 1981 and 1984 he won eighteen gold medals and fourteen world records of which he still holds nine.

Yikers! There’s more. Ronan became the first disabled person ever admitted to the National College of Physical Education. He later became a medical doctor specializing in orthopedic sports injuries.

Amazing enough, eh? But there’s more still.

At age 33, when he was well into his residency as a doctor, Ronan began serious, formal voice studies. Less than a year later he won both the John McCormack Cup for Tenor Voice and the BBC talent show Go For It less than one year after beginning the study of voice. His operatic kudos go on and on. Then, in 1998, he joined Anthony Kearns and John McDermott, known as the super successful Irish Tenors.

And of course he’s written a book. His autobiography, "Halfway Home," was published in February of 2002.

Wow. Pretty damned amazing. Oh, and apparently he’s a really nice guy, too. Ah well, at least we can be childish and make fun of his ears. Hmmm. Looks like he’s pretty hardcore Christian, but I won’t hold that against him. Thinking about him either makes me feel like a complete failure or is very inspiring and uplifting. Click here and decide for yourself.