Hollister
– After a machinery accident left Orasio Rivera without his
right leg, the 25-year-old was told he would be lucky to ever walk
normally again.
Hollister – After a machinery accident left Orasio Rivera without his right leg, the 25-year-old was told he would be lucky to ever walk normally again.
But Rivera, hospitalized and bedridden, didn’t believe it. When a doctor asked Rivera about his goals for the future, his answer was simple.
“To run!”
“He asked, ‘Were you a runner before?'” Rivera said, recalling the conversation. “I told him, ‘No, but if I can run, I can do anything.'”
Five years later on the field at San Benito High School, Rivera – fitted with a state-of-the-art sprinting leg – ran drills while being cheered on by his coaches.
Rivera, now 30 and living in Salinas, uses the high school’s track as training ground for the Paralympics, along with San Jose resident Nick Sgarlato, 21. Both hope to compete in the 2008 games in Beijing.
Each athlete’s journey to the training has been different. But both agree they would not be there without Hollister prosthetist Wade Skardoutos, who coaches them with SBHS sports medicine teacher Dave Tari.
“I told the other prosthetists that I want to run. But they said just concentrate on walking. It’s not possible,” Rivera said. “I’m really glad to know the right people.”
Skardoutos, who owns Prostethic Solutions, Inc., provides free running and walking clinics to his patients. The clinics serve around 150 people in the greater Bay Area each year.
“Running is a huge thing that most people don’t think they’ll ever be able to do,” Skardoutos said. “Most people think limb loss means limited activity, but with the technology we have there’s no reason they can’t do it.”
Skardoutos is committed to the idea of not just fitting the patients with the prosthesis, but also teaching them how to use and control it, he said.
Since insurance covers only a walking leg, Skardoutos used his own money to purchase the special sprinting legs for Rivera and Sgarlato.
“These guys work hard, so I figured I can find a way to cover it,” Skardoutos said. “That’s why I don’t go on vacation much,” he added, laughing.
But the investment is paying off for the athletes. They work with Tari on a weekly basis, and he coaches them on form with the help of several students from his sports medicine class San Benito High School.
Running on the grass at the high school field, Rivera and Sgarlato pump their legs, with the spatula-shaped carbon graphite of their prostheses hitting the ground with seemingly little effort.
“I’m learning still. This doesn’t feel like running yet,” Rivera said.
While Rivera still is getting used to using a prosthesis, Sgarlato has lived with the reality his entire life.
Born a below-the-knee amputee, Sgarlato’s natural athleticism allowed him to play many varsity sports in high school. But when he was 18, he underwent a surgery that left him an above-the-knee amputee.
“I thought I would never do sports again,” Sgarlato said.
Skardoutos, who had worked with Sgarlato since age 14, said the surgery was the first time he had seen Sgarlato look defeated. But despite the initial frustration, Skardoutos taught Sgarlato to use to his new prostheses.
Now under the training of Tari and Skardoutos, Sgarlato runs a 100-meter dash in 14.3 seconds and will be traveling to Atlanta for nationals in two weeks.
Even if Rivera does not qualify for the Paralympics, he said, he will be there cheering on the other athletes.
“Running keeps me going,” Rivera said. “I want to prove to other amputees that it’s possible. I want to show patients that have lost their legs.”
