By Sanjeev Anand
Head, Commericial & Corporate Banking,
IndusInd Bank
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon an article. The article was about a man called Jason Romero. Jason is the former CEO of Firefly Autism, a not for profit organization educates and supports children with autism. He was a business executive holding positions like Vice President at Western Union and General Manager at GE Capital in Latin America which was a $400 million division. Jason is also a runner and has complet
Jason was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an incurable degenerative retinal disease when he was 14 and the doctors told him to forget about his dream of becoming a lawyer. Today his vision allows him to see at 20 feet what we can see clearly at 200 feet. He can make out shapes and colors but they are incredibly blurry. The day will come when his vision will disintegrate to the point where he will be completely blind. It was this fear and depression that made him take up running in 2009.
Doctors prescribed anti-depressants but he rejected those. Instead he chose running. He ran marathons, ultra-marathons and triathlons. He ran and he ran and he ran till slowly the depression faded away. He showed himself that he could achieve what no one else thought possible and proved to the world that being blind doesn’t need to stop you from striving for greatness. His dedication, perseverance and belief in his ability were traits he always possessed.
Whilst he was studying Law at university (on a scholarship he was awarded for his academic acccomplishments) he used to sit under a light and magnifying glass determined to prove the doctors wrong. And he did. When he temporarily relocated to Puerto Rico there were no schools for his son who was autistic. He decided he would build one and raised funds by running a marathon.
The best way to articulate Jason’s attitude would be to quote Relentless Romero (what Jason is called) himself; “If you focus on the ‘cannots,’ you’re going to spiral down into nothing. If you focus on the ‘cans,’ what the possibilities are, maybe you’ll run across America one day.”
Today he has participated in 85 runs and some of the most difficult triathlons. He did some without a guide, simply because the guides could not keep up with his pace. The feat that he achieved in the San Jorge 50 Mile run was particularly remarkable as he beat runners who were sighted. He finished the race in 7 hours 24 minutes, dismantling the previous course record by 1.5 hours (set by a sighted runner).
In the process he also set a world record for blind ultra-runners in the 50-mile distance.
On the 25 th of March 2016 and started a 3,063-mile (4930 km) journey from LA to New York (originally LA to Boston). He completed the journey in 61 days. Jason Romero, a legally blind athlete ran nearly 5000 km across the USA, posting the 7 th fastest time, setting 4 world records and proving to the
world that the belief in your ability beats any disability.
