When Nice News interviewed world traveler Renee Bruns in 2022, she had visited 110 countries in her wheelchair. We were impressed: Bruns is a former Fortune 500 exec who traded in life behind a desk for one on the go, defying expectations about people with disabilities. And our readers were no doubt inspired as well — one in particular most certainly was.
After the piece went live that November, Bruns received an email from a woman named Virginia De Francisco. De Francisco taught elementary school and junior high for three decades, earning a doctorate in educational psychology before semi-retiring in 2010. She now serves as a part-time school psychologist. Also a children’s book author, she was “amazed” when she read our article about Bruns, and knew she wanted to share her story with young people.
“Her adventure was an adventure on which I wished I’d be brave enough to embark. I wanted kids to know about Renee because she defied the limited expectations anyone ever had for her,” De Francisco told Nice News, adding: “I want kids to feel empowered to dream big and make their dreams come true with the same determination and grit as Renee.”
Bruns (left) and De Francisco
One of the Bruns’ goals back in 2022 was to earn the Guinness World Record for the most countries visited in one year by a person in a wheelchair — and in early 2023, she got word that she’d officially achieved it. De Francisco thought the mission would lend itself particularly well to the page, and with Bruns’ blessing, decided to focus the book on that accomplishment.
“I knew right away after speaking with Virginia that if she wrote about my story, it would be very special,” shared Bruns, 41. “I committed to her having my story for a children’s book and the rest is history.” The two women began workshopping the concept together via the web — Bruns based in Atlanta and De Francisco, 75, in Southern California. Next, De Francisco re-read all of Bruns’ blog posts, which offered a wealth of material: Her first draft of the book was close to 5,000 words.
“Nonfiction picture books generally run less than 1,000 words. So I revised, revised, and revised until I had a draft of around 1,200 words that I shared with my writing critique group,” De Francisco shared. She continued to make edits, bouncing ideas off of Bruns and having her fact-check details. She enlisted artist Svitlana Holovchenko to illustrate the 38-page book, and on July 1, Unlimited: Renee Bruns Set a Guinness World Record hit the shelves.
Bruns and De Fancisco decided together that a portion of the proceeds would be donated to Free Wheelchair Mission, a nonprofit that designs and manufactures durable wheelchairs and provides them at no cost to people who need them in developing countries. So far, it’s distributed 1.5 million wheelchairs in 95 countries.
Speaking of countries — Bruns has been racking up the passport stamps since we last spoke. She’s now been to 152 nations, and she intends to visit all 195. And there’s a common thread she’s noticed in her travels.
“One of the things that has remained consistent is the kindness of people around the world. It will always impress me how afraid I can be to enter a new place, and yet, people from around the world, who don’t know me or speak the same language as me, step up and show me the beauty of their country,” Bruns said. “I don’t ever want to forget this, and I hope that through my travels, I can help remind the people in this world how beautiful and kind we can all be to each other.”
The stories Bruns shares of peoples’ warmth and welcoming spirits have also made a meaningful impact on De Francisco’s perspective.
“Learning from Renee about the kindness she has encountered wherever she has traveled made me feel good about the world again,” she said. “Even in the grip of pandemics, poverty, and the horrors of war, kindness can fill the hearts of those in need. If kindness ruled the world, what a difference it would make. And just think of all the Nice News!”
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