At the age of 18, more precisely in 1999, I experienced, I can freely say, a tragedy. In a traffic accident, I hurt my spine, then I was sent to Belgrade for a surgery, but unfortunately I ended up in the wheelchair. It was bad and tragic for certain, but I was constantly driven by the enthusiasm and love of life, and now I am here. Despite my situation, I’ve ridden horses, camels, jumped with the parachute and even broke the record as the first person with a disability who jumped with the parachute from that height. This is the beginning of my story and the humanitarian association I founded about 15 years ago. I went to Beijing first and was the first person to have a stem cell transplant. There I met a crew from the BBC who shot a short documentary about it, and then when I returned to Serbia, various Serbian media contacted me and talked to me about how it feels to find enough strength and will to accept the life I have. With the support of people from Serbia and the diaspora, I founded the humanitarian association of people with disabilities “Dragana Rodic” shortly thereafter. As a non-governmental organization, we had various humanitarian activities; we allocated over 200,000 EUR to both individuals and institutions, we hosted MD Kristofer Riva, who patented the differentiation of stem cells in Nis. We launched a unique action called Remove
the Barriers, which won the award as the most popular media campaign. In addition to all this, I also wrote the book The Web of Circumstances, and the other part is expected very soon. There is also a music album on the occasion of the action Remove the Barriers. I want to get a PhD degree in my area, and grow my child to be a man.

Sa svojih 18 godina, tačnije 1999. godine, doživela sam, mogu slobodno da kažem, jedno tragično iskustvo. U saobraćajnoj nesreći povredila sam kičmu, zatim su me poslali u Beograd na operaciju, ali nažalost završila sam u kolicima.

Jeste da je bilo loše i tragično, ali entuzijazam i ljubav prema životu su me konstantno vodili i sada sam ovde. I pored moje situacije, jahala sam konje, kamile, skakala padobranom i čak razbila rekord kao prva osoba sa invaliditetom koja je skočila padobranom sa te visine. To je početak moje priče i humanitarnog udruženja koje sam osnovala pre približno 15 godina.

Bila sam u Pekingu kao prva osoba na kojoj se izvodila transplantacija matičnih ćelija. Tu sam upoznala ekipu iz BBC-a, koji su snimili kratak dokumentarni film o tome, a zatim kada sam se vratila u Srbiju, kontaktirali su me i različiti srpski mediji i pričali sa mnom o tome kako je to pronaći dovoljno snage i volje da se prihvati život kakav ja imam. Uz podršku ljudi iz Srbije i dijaspore, osnovala sam nedugo posle toga i humanitarno udruženje osoba sa invaliditetom „Dragana Rodić“. Kao nevladina organizacija, mi smo imali različite humanitarne aktivnosti: podelili smo preko 200.000 evra pojedincima i institucijama, doveli u Niš dr Kristofera Rivu koji je patentirao diferencijaciju matičnih ćelija. Pokrenuli smo i jedinstvenu akciju pod nazivom “Uklonimo barijere”, koja je dobila nagradu kao akcija koja je imala najveću medijsku pažnju.

Pored svega toga, napisala sam i knjigu “Splet okolnosti”, a drugi deo se očekuje vrlo uskoro. U planu je i muzički album povodom akcije “Uklonimo barijere”, želim da doktoriram u svojoj oblasti i da napravim čoveka od svog deteta.