Maja Kazazic

Maja Kazazic's life changed forever in the summer of 1993. Two years into the Bosnian War, a mortar shell landed in her courtyard, critically injuring her and killing five of her friends.

Her legs were shattered and her face and arm were peppered with shrapnel. Kazazic was treated in a local makeshift basement hospital. Her left leg was amputated below the knee without the benefit of anesthesia. Without proper medication, the massive injuries to her right leg festered in the mid-summer heat. She lay close to death when she was selected by a British aid worker to be one of three children evacuated for treatment. This journey took her to Croatia, then to Germany and eventually to the United States, where Veterans for Peace sponsored her trip.

The town of Cumberland, Maryland opened its arms to Kazazic. The president of the hospital and the surgeons and nurses donated her medical care. Church groups provided housing, food and clothing. The following year, Kazazic learned English and enrolled in high school, determined to pick up the remnants of her shattered life. Her healing continued and she stopped counting her surgeries after her 100th operation.

Kazazic was determined to succeed and had the will to overcome any obstacle. Despite the challenges presented to her as a below-the-knee amputee, she learned how to walk again, joined the marching band at school and eventually put herself through college. She has since learned to windsurf and to play tennis and golf.

When she is not running her successful web development company, Kazazic travels the country telling her story of the resilience of the human spirit and the value of determination and tenacity. Kazazic's website: www.OneStoryOneWorld.com invites her audience members to share their own stories of triumph and success in the face of adversity.

Kazazic has been featured in Reader's Digest, Good Houskeeping, the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as BBC News, Fox News and on the Discovery Health Network.