The Transylvanian Farmer With No Arms

He survived electrocution and a double-amputation — but an unyielding desire to succeed trumped any obstacle that came his way.

Photos by Jack Taylor

Istvan Szuhányi heads towards the haystack and steps on the edge of a pitchfork like a skater stomping on the end of a skateboard.

The sun is dipping below the tree line of the ridge overlooking the 62-year-old’s small plot on the outskirts of Jibou, a town of 11,000 in northern Transylvania, a region in central Romania.

The tool's wooden handle springs off the ground and, using his foot, Szuhányi raises it up and catches it between his neck and left shoulder.

His shirt is open, showing his lean but strong weather-beaten chest and scars streaking down his torso. The marks are burns left by the electrical shock that, thirty-nine years ago, destroyed his arms, burning them severely to the elbow, below which surgeons amputated.