GONCIN Nikola

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (Athlete, 20 Jul 2016)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Athlete, 20 Jul 2016)

Impairment Details
He broke his left leg playing basketball and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. He had his left leg amputated below the knee. (Athlete, 20 Jul 2016; sunrisemedical.co.uk, 01 Jan 2014; torontoobserver.ca, 07 Jun 2016)

General
ROLE MODEL
He lists his father Zoran as his role model in life. His family are originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and moved to Canada as war refugees when he was age three. "As it turns out the timing of my birth was poorly planned as the country was amidst a war at the time. My father served in the military as it was mandatory conscription at the time and my mum took care of little me. We applied for immigration to multiple countries and Canada was the first to answer the call. We arrived in Canada in 1994, the same year my brother and sister were born. Now, I obviously remember very little about this but as I grow older and realise what things my parents had to endure for my siblings and I to live in the situations we do now, is nothing short of extraordinary. I hope that I'm never in the same situation as my parents were, running away from a war-torn country, but If I have even a quarter of the ambition and passion of my father then I would check that off as a success. I've said many times that my dad's my role model." (sunrisemedical.co.uk, 01 Jan 2014; torontoobserver.ca, 07 Jun 2016; nikgoncin.ca, 06 Sep 2020)

POST-BASKETBALL CAREER
His is has studied for qualifications in orthotic and prosthetic technical fabrication at George Brown College in Toronto, ON, Canada, and says he intends to go into the industry once his basketball career finishes having been inspired by his own prosthetist. "It took me a long time to find my calling outside of basketball but I am happy to report that I think I have found it. Obviously my passion for the prosthetics and orthotics industry began because of my experience with prosthetics but to me it is deeper than that. It took me a number of years to fully comprehend how much of a positive effect my prosthetist had on me those years ago. He was also a surviving cancer patient and had lost his leg some 25 years before meeting me. To me at the time, this man exemplified success, particularly as a teenager who had just lost his leg. What I would love more than anything is to work in an industry where I will be presented with the opportunity to have that same positive affect on others." (nikgoncin.ca, 06 Sep 2020)

FURTHER EDUCATION
After completing a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and exercise science at the University of Illinois he went on to study for a master's degree in health sciences at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. He is also studying for qualifications in orthotic and prosthetic technical fabrication at George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Apr 2019)