How to come to terms with disability, love who you are and let people in.

[by Melanie Johnson]

Nick Vujicic, who was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs, never thought he would find love.

“As someone who is two arms and two legs short of the standard-issue Prince Charming, I often despaired that I would never find someone to share my dream of having a family,” Vujicic wrote in his book “Unstoppable,” which was released in October 2012.

But Vujicic, despite his deepest fears, did find love.

Vujicic met the love of his life, the beautiful Kanae Miyahara, in April 2010. Vujicic, a Serbian Australian evangelist and motivational speaker, was asked to speak at an event in McKinney, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Miyahara went to hear Vujicic speak with her older sister and a mutual friend of Vujicic’s.

The rest, according to Vujicic, was destiny. Seeing Miyahara standing in the audience while he was delivering his speech (and trying not to flub his words!) was, as cheesy as it might sound, love at first sight.

“You may think this ‘love at first sight’ story is a cliché,” Vujicic wrote. “But if this is what being a cliché feels like, believe me, mate, I’m OK with it.”

After the speech, Vujicic and Miyahara were introduced. They hit it off right away. Vujicic was instantly smitten with Miyahara, whom he described as having “the most beautiful, wise and warm eyes” he’d ever seen.

Vujicic and Miyahara remained in touch after the event and soon started dating. Vujicic proposed to Miyahara in July 2011, and the couple was married February 2012.

Vujicic believes his and Miyahara’s whirlwind romance is built to last. He said he has found “the woman of [his] dreams,” and he doesn’t plan on letting her go.

But Vujicic was not always so lucky in love. Growing up with what many would describe as a severely debilitating disability, Vujicic was bullied and, at one point, even contemplated suicide.

At 17, Vujicic turned his life around and established the Life Without Limbs organization. Life Without Limbs is a nonprofit with a mission to encourage disabled and nondisabled people alike to live lives of purpose. Vujicic, the president and CEO of Life Without Limbs, travels extensively to countries across the globe, preaching his faith and talking about the extraordinary power of love.

Vujicic believes that everyone is worthy of love, but that an individual must practice self-love before he or she can truly be open to loving someone else. He said that love is meant for everyone – people with disabilities are no exception. We all have imperfections, but the key is to find someone who will love and cherish these imperfections and love us for every “limitation,” “weakness” or “flaw.”

Everyone has doubts and insecurities, Vujicic said. But despite your deepest fears, you too can find love. You’ve just got to be open to it.

“I found the perfect woman for the imperfect me,” Vujicic wrote. “We know we each have our flaws, but we see ourselves as perfectly matched.”