Vujicic was born on December 4, 198

Vujicic was born on December 4, 1982, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to Dušanka and Borislav Vujičić, devout Serbian Orthodox emigrants from Yugoslavia. His parents became active in a Melbourne church. His mother attended nursing school at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne while his father worked in business management. He was born with phocomelia without some fully formed limbs.

According to his autobiography, his mother refused to see him or hold him while the nurse held him in front of her, but she and her husband eventually accepted their son’s condition and understood it as God’s plan for their son.

Vujicic has two small and deformed feet, one of which he calls his “chicken drumstick” because of its shape. Originally, he was born with the toes of that foot fused. An operation was performed to separate the toes so that he could use them as fingers to grab, turn a page, or perform other functions. He has been able to use his foot to operate an electric wheelchair, a computer and a mobile phone.

Vujicic notes that he had an “amazingly normal childhood”.

Throughout his childhood, Nick dealt not only with the typical challenges of school and adolescence, such as bullying and self-esteem issues, he also struggled with depression and loneliness as he questioned why he was different from all the other kids. He couldn’t get the haunting question of “Why was I the one born without arms and legs?” out of his head.

Nick prayed very hard that God would give him arms and legs, and initially told God that, if his prayer remained unanswered, Nick would not praise him indefinitely. However, a key turning point in his faith came when his mother showed him a newspaper article about a man dealing with a severe disability. Vujicic realized he wasn’t unique in his struggles and began to embrace his lack of limbs. After this, Nick realized his accomplishments could inspire others and became grateful for his life.

As Nick grew up, he learned to deal with his disability and gradually accomplished more on his own. A janitor at his high school inspired him to start speaking publicly about overcoming adversity, so Nick starting speaking to small groups of students when he was 17. During secondary school, he was elected captain of MacGregor State in Queensland and worked with the student council on fundraising events for local charities and disability campaigns.

After high school, Nick went onto tertiary education and obtained a double Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Accounting and Financial Planning, from Griffith University in Logan, Australia. By the age of 19, Nick started to fulfill his dream of encouraging other people by giving speeches revolving around his life story. He found the purpose to his existence, and also the purpose in his circumstance.

He graduated from Griffith University at the age of 21 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with a double major in accountancy and financial planning.