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eBook Category: People/History
eBook Description: You saw it on ABC news years ago--the shocking neglect and squalor suffered by the orphaned children of Romania. But what happened to the children after the news cameras left? Abandoned For Life is the incredible story of Izidor Ruckel, a child who not only survived, but has now become a much sought-after public speaker. For the first ten years of his life, this tough little guy survived when others would have simply curled up and died. He did it by taking charge in the chaos. His instinctual determination to survive the reason he overcame all that he did. In his book, he reveals secrets never before shared with the world. Stories of house nannies, who beat them with broomsticks and rock hard hands and heels of shoes. Graphic remembrances of the night when, from beneath the tattered covers of his cot, he secretly witnessed the death of another child. This is much more than a collection of shocking stories, however. Abandoned For Life shows that hope lives on--in spite of the most horrendous situations imaginable. [TV series of reports was the recipient of an Emmy award in 2002] [AVAILABLE ONLY IN ADOBE ACROBAT PDF FORMAT.]

eBook Publisher: JB Information Station, Published: 2002
Fictionwise Release Date: October 2004

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Available eBook Formats [Adobe Acrobat (PDF) - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [2.2 MB]
Words: 54436
Reading time: 155-217 min.
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: 0934334129

"Izidor was just 11 when ABC News 20/20 found him in 1990--warehoused with hundreds of children in a hellish institution in Romania. The sign over the door declared the children inside were "unsalvageable"--Izidor was there because his leg was disabled by polio. Somehow he survived in Auschwitz-like conditions and managed to catch the attention of an American couple trying to adopt. For more than a decade, 20/20 has chronicled Izidor's remarkable life--from his arrival in California to his return to Romania in 2001 where he confronted the parents who abandoned him. Izidor's story was the recipient of an Emmy award in 2002. Abandoned for Life" is Izidor's story in his own words. It's a story of courage, determination and forgiveness by a young man who beat the odds--and has now set out to rescue those who were left behind."--Janice Tomlin produced a series of Emmy-winning reports on Romania for ABC News 20/20. She is now a producer for CBS News 60 Minutes.

"Abandoned for Life is a powerful and provocative insider's view of international adoption. Izidor shares the brutal truth of his experiences and invites us to explore what is really in the best interest of children."--Marlou Russell, Ph.D.

"This book has moved me, horrified me, and given me hope. It should be studied by anyone involved in child welfare. It's message will stay with me forever. Izidor Ruckel is one of this century's most remarkable heroes."--Christina Goldstone

As far as I know, I was born in a small town in Northern Romania, Sighetu Marmatiei. Three years after I was born, my parents decided to put me in the Camin Spital Pentru Daficienti Coppi (Home Hospital for the Irrecoverable). They put me there because I was crippled. Later, doctors in America told me that I had probably contracted polio at a young age and my lower limbs wasted away from lack of proper care and physical therapy. Once my parents abandoned me, they never returned to see how I was doing. Not once!

One of the first things that I can remember at the hospital was a lady who took care of me as if I were her own son. It was like a miracle and, surely, not what usually happened to the children there. The lady's name was Maria and she was one of the home's house nannies. She used to bring shampoo, clothes, and sometimes bits of food for me from her own home.

Not very many of the house nannies would do that for the children because they did not have loving hearts like Maria. It must have also been difficult to care even a little for just one of us when there were so many. Sometimes over 800 children were jammed into that one building.

It seemed like many of the house nannies hated me because Maria favored me so much. She always tried to protect me from the other nannies and their cruel treatment. I often dreamed a dream? that she was my mother!

But it was not meant to last.

A few years after I came to the home, there was a terrible accident. It all began one winter morning as all the children were being wakened out of bed at six o'clock. It was a bitter cold, snowy day and children needed to take their baths. This was a daily ritual, no matter the weather, because many of the children, even the older ones, wet their beds every night. Even if a child did not wet the bed, oftentimes the child with whom he or she was forced to sleep did wet the bed; thus, getting everything and every body soiled. We were often forced to sleep together because there were not enough beds or cots to sleep singly. But in winter, sleeping together was welcomed, simply for sharing the warmth of two bodies.

The Home did not have a water heater for bath water so the house nannies heated the water by using an electrical coffee heater. In hindsight, it's amazing to me that they ever managed, even though a "bath" was more a dribble of water in the tub, rather than an opportunity to enjoy the luxury and warmth of deep clean water upon our skin.

One day, my surrogate mother, Maria was heating the water. The worn electrical wire must have been exposed because there was a sudden flash of light, a loud popping sound and Maria was electrocuted and died quickly. At least that's the story the other house nannies told me about how she died.

That cold morning was the last time I ever saw Maria's smile or heard her cheerful voice. I will never forget that loving woman for all she did for me. Among the hospital workers, Maria was the kindest woman I had ever known. I will always carry her memory with me in my heart. I loved her and I believe that she loved me.