At our annual Ability Bash on March 26th I presented an award to an outstanding individual who exemplifies the motto of Disavled Sports USA, "If I can do this, I can do anything". It is given to individuals who exhibit unusual determination.
The Beyond Ability Award went to Jake Gibbons. Jake worked in Greenland and Antartica setting up base camps for scientists. Two winters ago he got caught out in a storm and was written off for dead by his team. But Jake survived and made it back to the rest of the crew. However, frostnite took both of his legs and an arm.
When I met Jake he was in pretty bad shape both physically and mentally. Of course, I encouraged him and tried my best to help him come to terms with his situation. I got him to go up to the school for a ski lesson. The last two months Jake has been a member of our High Performance Team, learning to race on two prosthetic legs. Recently, he went to an elementary school with me. We showed the kids our artificial legs and Jake showed them how his hook works.
Jake is going to be just fine, Thank you.
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