Former Romanian orphan aims to help others

In 1991, young Izidor Ruckel meets his adoptive family in San Diego. When he was in Romania’s Institute for the Unsalvageables, he begged a visiting American documentary filmmaker to take him to the U.S. The American helped him and others.

(Thomas B. Szalay / For The Times)

Dec. 3, 2015 3 AM PT

Izidor Ruckel once lived in a Romanian orphanage called the Institute for the Unsalvageables.

An orphanage in Romania.

(Thomas B. Szalay / For The Times)

Adoptive mother Marlys Ruckel and Izidor Ruckel in Denver. As a teen, Izidor rebelled against his parents. Years alter, a visit with his birth parents taught him the real value of adoptive parents.

(Thomas B. Szalay / For The Times)

Ruckel adjusts a brace he wears after suffering from polio in his childhood.

(Thomas B. Szalay / For The Times)

Ruckel visits a Romanian orphanage.

(Thomas B. Szalay / For The Times)

Ruckel visits the Romanian orphanage where he lived. Back then, sedated outcasts with shaved heads were shackled to beds and even radiators.

(Thomas B. Szalay / For The Times)