Gets the most out of life

He does not complain, even though he would have every reason to. Two and a half years ago, Tibor Traier suffered a serious accident in the United States: a huge pipe fell on his legs. This stroke of fate changed his life forever. Doctors were able to save one of his legs, but the other had to be amputated. After this terrible ordeal, the man proved that life does not stop even after such horror. He learned to walk again, which was helped by the fact that exercise had been part of his everyday life since childhood. And this is still the case today, because when he is at home —he is working again—, he lifts weights at Top Gym fitness center in Veszprém, and if he feels like it, he also goes dancing.

Tibor Traier was born in Transylvania, and after the change of regime, hoping for a new life, he chose our country, and specifically the City of Queens, as his home. He tried out several sports in our eastern neighbor country — playing ping-pong, running, tennis, and soccer—but not to "decorate" the walls of his room with medals and certificates. Rather, it was because, as a lively young man, he wanted to be active. When he arrived here, he wasn't exactly a muscleman, so – on the recommendation of others – one of his first trips was to the former gym on Damjanich Street. Since he went there two or three times a week, he eventually got in really good shape. This year marks twenty years since he began traveling the world as an employee of an Austrian company: with their locksmith work and the assembly of various machines, they have made their mark on almost every continent.

– — emphasizes Tibor, who speaks five languages. Wherever he traveled around the globe, he always looked for places where he could squeeze in a bit of weight training in his free time. In 2023, the wind once again carried their team—made up of members from several different nations—to the United States, where they were struck by a blow that would have left many people withdrawn or completely shattered. Yet instead, the man sitting across from me in the café is full of life, the same guy who, in the photos on his social media page, is almost always grinning from ear to ear.

– he says, adding that his colleagues quickly rolled the pipe from over him. Tibor remained conscious throughout, and in the ambulance and rescue helicopter he kept repeating to himself that this was how it was, he couldn't change it, but because he was a tough man, he would get back on his feet even from this situation. Meanwhile, he emphasized to me: this was the turning point in that terrible situation, because even then he was already thinking about the way out, he didn't let himself get lost in hopelessness.

At the hospital, doctors stabilized his condition explained to him what would happen next with the help of an interpreter. His left leg, which he was already unable to move at the scene, was amputated below the knee, but the other leg, which had suffered an open fracture, was successfully saved. He believes that they would have amputated it back here at home as well, but abroad they literally pieced it back together, grafting skin from his thigh, although he still lacks his inner ankle bone. He underwent a total of thirteen operations overseas and "enjoyed" the hotel-like care provided for more than a month and a half. He enjoyed the hotel-like care provided by the health care institution. It was good for him that he was made of tough stuff, because when he got really annoyed with the nurses' bedside manner, he gathered all his strength and lifted himself into the wheelchair so he could go to the bathroom. He spent his first rehabilitation at his friends' house in Florida, then boarded a flight to Liszt Ferenc Airport in a wheelchair. He reveals that his partner wanted to visit him, but when she heard the news about him, she felt so ill that she was unable to travel to see him. Two months after his last operation, he received a temporary prosthesis, with which he learned to walk again. During his second course of treatment, he was so impatient that he pushed himself so hard during the exercises that his stump sometimes bled. It usually takes a year and a half for the bone to heal completely. It was painful and time-consuming for him to get used to the so-called temporary prosthesis, but since then he has been using another one made of titanium and carbon. Furthermore, experts have perfected it, as its material, its flexibility and load capacity are such that it is almost as if the wearer were using a real foot. Tibor can walk with it almost as if it were a real leg, and he no longer has to concentrate so much on his steps. When he wears long pants, many people would not even notice what he has been through.

– he adds. As far as I understand, his situation was not difficult on the street at first, but at home, when he was not wearing his prosthetic leg. At that time, one of the most important questions was how he would be able to get to the bathroom on his own, then he regained control over his body through his strength, and eventually his self-confidence returned.

Our protagonist usually comes home every quarter for two-week "vacations" from abroad, and when he does, he always goes to Top Gym to exercise and, last but not least, to meet up with his friends. He probably didn't even have his prosthesis yet when the owner of the gym, Tibor Kovács, asked him to come back because everyone was curious about him. It didn't take much persuasion: he soon "kicked the dust off his weights." Since then, when he is back home, he trains three or four times a week in the gym, where he not only pays his respects on the bench press, but also works out his legs. After the amputation, his balance changed, so he constantly strengthens his left side and left thigh to compensate for the loss of his calf and ankle. He no longer does exercises in a standing position, only lying down and sitting.

Tibor has only one regret: that he was unable to obtain a disability card in Hungary, given that his physical disability is 33 percent, but a 40 percent disability is required to qualify for the card. His requests in this regard have been rejected, even though, as he points out, his leg will not grow back. When he stops somewhere by car, he cannot get out of it like healthy people, because he has to turn completely at the door and cannot bend his leg like others. This only bothers him sometimes; he considers it more important that, after his long recovery, he can live a full life, devoting himself to his hobby, sports, which is not a form of self-expression for him.

– he notes. 

Every blessed day proves that you can live a full life with a prosthesis, and that nothing is impossible. 

– he admits, giving hope to others. He inspires people like him that life doesn't stop, that you can still play sports and exercise even without legs. Tibor even dances when he and his friends visit the nightlife of Veszprém.

Author: Ferenc Király