History Has Been Made

Meet John Tartaglio who has continued to inspire people with his positive attitude and continuous courage. He has received an overwhelming amount of support from people all over the country. At the end of John’s senior year he was nationally recognized by being featured on the Oprah Winfrey show.  The reason for this is that the people see his courage, relate to his challenges and admire his determination. At 17 years old, On August 22^nd, 2004 John was diagnosed with such a rare bacterial infection that only 34 people in medical history have had it since.  To save his life doctors had no choice but to amputate his legs and left bicep that night.  John survived although he was only given a 20% chance to live.  John endured two months of rehabilitation to get him ready for life back at home.  At home and outpatient rehabilitation John focused on regaining his strength and independence.  From the very start John set a goal of walking at his high school graduation despite being told that he would never walk again from doctors and a leading prosthetic company.  After 4 months John walked a quarter of a mile at a 5k/ 2mile walk held in his honor.  John easily met his goal in June of 2005 and walked to receive his diploma at his high school graduation. 

Through rigorous workouts consisting of weight training, swimming, cycling, walking, and running John was able to compete in team triathlons.  In the fall of 2005 John enrolled into Fairfield University studying pre-med.  Training just as hard during the school year John was the first bilateral hip disarticulate (Full leg amputee on both sides) in history to run and complete a 5k and a 10k road race.  John completed the New York Marathon in 2:12:12 placing 30^th in the handcycle division his sophmore year and a half iron man (70.3 mile) triathlon his junior year of college.  John finished college and has been training to make running history again.  On November 1st 2009, John ran the NYC Marathon and after 15 hours 59 minutes became the first bilateral hip disarticulate to run and complete a marathon.  Still competing in triathlons, cycling events, running events, and exceeding in school John has shown that “How far you fall doesn’t determine who you are, it’s how hard you work to get back up.”        

www.johntartaglio.com