Gelisim News

25-year-old Ahmet Serdar Demir became spinal cord paralyzed after the accident in the water when he was 17. Demir, who resumes life with sports after 7 years of physical therapies, has been trying to regain his losses in water. 24 year-old Dilan Onğulu who is born without arms and legs, races for the championship without giving up and saying ‘If Dilan does it, everyone can do it’. The success of many young people like Serdar and Dilan has been the subject of photography exhibitions. The young people who are in the frames of photography artist Neşe Arı, came together in the exhibition ‘Hold on to the Life’ hosted by Istanbul Gelisim University. Photography artist Neşe Arı, saying that each photograph and person has a different story and said: “I watched an athlete coming from scratch one to the present. This was very important to me.”

Ahmet Serdar Demir, who had lived healthily until the age of 17, broke his neck by jumping into shallow water during his vacation in 2011. Saying that his dead body was removed from the water and that there were a doctor and a nurse were on the beach by chance, Demir said: “They applied first aid to me. After that, I had a surgery, a platinum was put on my neck and my physical therapy started. I've had physical therapy for 7 years in different places. As a result of physical therapy, I started to maintain my own life. I started swimming a year ago. In a short period of time, I developed so much physically. Our training was very intense. I got the 3^rd rank in my first competition twice in Turkey and also the 2^nd rank twice in Turkey. I won the Turkish championship in this year's competitions of mine. I want to represent our country in Europe by winning national team auditions.”

Stating that he did not resent the water after the incident at sea, Demir said: “When I entered my first race, I made a promise to myself and I said, ‘I will get back what I lost in the water.’ After that, I continued to swim with determination and intense tempo. I reaped the fruits of it.”

Describing how uncomfortable he was due to the eyes on him, Demir talked as follows:

“I was afraid to show myself. That the eyes outside looked at me bothered me but when I started swimming, I began to go outside and socialize. This disability is now a simple and ordinary thing for me. Thanks to the sports, I overcome that too. Sports opened the doors of the university to me. Before starting sports, I used to spend my time on computer at home after a physical therapy session for 2 hours. But as I realized what I could do, I developed a lot in terms of thinking. After saying to myself ‘Serdar, there's nothing you can't do. You have to hold on to the life; you have to succeed.”, I started to achieve great works by holding on to the life through sports in a very nice way.”

Saying that tomorrow will not be clear, Ahmet Serdar Demir pointed out that persons with disabilities should be directed to sports.

Dilan Onğulu, who was born without arms and legs, said that she started to swim by chance. 24-year-old young swimmer told her story with the words as follows:

“I started to swim thanks to the teacher I met on my way to have my prosthesis made. I didn't take a swimsuit in the first day because I didn't think I could swim because I had no arms and legs. However, my teacher told me to trust him about this. Indeed, I put on a bathing suit and went into the pool. After 1 month, I got my first medal in the inter-district race and I still win these races. When I first swam, I couldn't stand on the water, when I tried again and again, I noticed that water got into my nose. When we solved this problem, I started swimming 5 meters. Then I achieved swimming 10 meters, 15 meters, and now 50 meters.”

Saying that she does not see herself as disabled, that the arms and legs are of no importance and that the real disability is in the eyes that cannot see and heart that cannot love, Onğulu said: “Now I started thinking this way and I say ‘If Dilan can do it, everybody can’. I've had great successes and I've known great people. I don't sleep and wake up every day and every night before I say "Dilan, you're beautiful today". Everything ends in the heart.”

The photographer Neşe Arı, owner of the ‘Hold on to the Life’ exhibition, said that this exhibition took about 4 years. She said that she started her project in order to raise awareness, Arı said: “A photo frame means adding a document in the history. Even though my work seems to be over now, my shooting is still going on. Every photo has a different story for me. I watched an athlete coming from scratch as one to one. This was very important to me. There are great people, and I don't even see that determination in myself. I can't live like them; I can't swim like them when even I have no obstacles. These people go to work and school at the same time and are present at every moment of life. We should not marginalize them.”