A child who lost both legs at once had a choice - to withdraw and sink into depression or try to prove something - to himself and others.
Casey McAllister lost both legs at the age of six when he was hit by a truck at a crosswalk. The boy was pulled under the wheels, and he barely survived. When Casey woke up from anesthesia, his parents told him about what had happened and that he would have to re-learn how to live, although at that time he still did not understand what was at stake. But when he returned home from the hospital, a new reality began for him, in which it was difficult for him to solve even the simplest everyday issues.
The hardest thing was going back to school. After the accident, the parents sent their son to a new educational institution, where he became a “weird boy in a wheelchair.”
Casey had a choice - to shut himself up and plunge into impenetrable darkness, where he would be left alone with his grief, or accept, learn to live without legs and achieve everything he dreamed of, but in a new form.
The boy started playing sports. He tried not to pay attention to the caustic remarks and ridicule addressed to him. On the contrary, they became his motivation. Persistence and hard work helped him succeed in arm wrestling (hand wrestling) and change the attitude of others towards him. He outlined his position for everyone at once, including parents: do not help me, treat me the same way as with any other child with legs. Something similar was advised to his family and doctors. If you do everything for Casey, he can never learn to do without the help of other people, they said.
Casey: "If my mom had treated me like a disabled person, I would have become disabled."
Gradually, the boy learned to do housework on his own - vacuuming, washing dishes, cooking. After mastering arm wrestling and winning several competitions, Casey wanted more and enrolled in the gymnastics section, which led him to participate in marathons.
When the athlete succeeded in them, he began to look for more opportunities to prove himself. So Casey discovered the Spartan Race, an international obstacle course of varying distances and difficulty from 3 miles to marathon distances, which were also held from time to time in the United States. The goal seemed unattainable. An inner voice kept suggesting that Casey would not be able, would not cope, that such difficult competitions were not for him. He became his own worst enemy, repeating: “You are incapable of such a thing! You don't have legs!" But Casey was able to find the strength to try, to decide, despite the inner fear.
Athlete without legs could not compete with ordinary participants. It took Casey significantly longer to clear the obstacles, but he completed both the first race and the next 34, held in various frequent US locations from Seattle to Hawaii.
Today Casey McAllister is an accomplished sportsman, an experienced auto mechanic, a motivational speaker who helps people believe in themselves by his own example, and a husband and father of five children.
The latter was the biggest test of his life for him, because he is used to becoming the best in everything, including fatherhood. But even here Casey is not far behind. A terrible accident deprived him of the life he had dreamed of as a child, but gave him a new one. And according to the athlete, it was the loss of his legs that helped him achieve everything that he has today. The hardest fight is the fight with yourself, and from it Casey McAllister emerged victorious.
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