Victor Vermeulen

Victor Vermeulen had it all! From a very early age, he’d excelled at both academics and sports and boasted an expansive list of bursaries and awards. He could have represented his country at any number of sports but his first love was always cricket. At 19 he’d already played with a young South African team at Lords the famous English test ground and was settling into a career with Transvaal. It was really just a matter of time, it was felt, before he would be given the opportunity to go in and bat for South Africa.

Then, a freak accident left him paralysed from the neck down with little apparently to look forward to, only memories of a dazzling past and thoughts of what might have been!

Victor however, as his name implies, is made of sterner stuff! He didn’t dwell on the past, but looked at the positive aspects of his situation and with his mother Isabel’s support and encouragement, set off down a new path as a motivational speaker.

A natural communicator, Victor’s message is a universal one, that it is possible, no matter what the difficulties, to achieve your goals and fulfill your ambitions.

“I felt as if my mind was being held prisoner in an immobile shell and I’d become frozen inside my skin. I couldn’t do much, but I had made my choice. I wasn’t going to just give up and die.

I decided that my life was worth living and I was going to make the most of it; one breath at a time and one day at a time. I’ve never been a person who gives up. I decided to fight!”

His extraordinary story of courage, optimism and sheer determination is told in his best-selling book ‘The Victor Within’ (Tenacity Publications) which has the following forewords by Nelson Mandela (Mentioned Above) and the late Christopher Reeve.

“Most of us go through life spending very little time, if any, contemplating how we and our loved ones would be affected by a catastrophic illness or injury.

Or, if we do think about having to face MS, Parkinson’s, diabetes, a stroke or a spinal cord injury we imagine (or at least I did), that our one life on this planet would have been ruined, not only because of the loss of normal activity but our perceived inability to endure.

Victor’s book and the compelling mission statement for his life proves otherwise. He shows us that we have two choices in the face of adversity: to give in to loss, or to reach new heights by discovering the power within. Victor has made the courageous choice and has much to teach us.” – CHRISTOPHER REEVE