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April Holmes (1 post) Back to Life Lift Home
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
April Holmes, Paralympic gold medalist in the 100-meter dash. In 2001, at age 27, the former college track star lost her left leg from the knee down in a train accident.

You can't move very fast if you're carrying a lot of baggage. I try to remind myself of that every day. It's easy to get weighed down by bad stuff from your past--an accident, a difficult breakup, family issues, whatever. But if you're tied to the past, you're not going to get very far.

When I was lying in the hospital after the accident, my surgeon, Dr. DeLong, handed me some magazines about the Paralympics and told me to think about it. I had no idea what it would take to be an amputee, let alone a sprinter, let alone a gold medalist. But I told myself, "This is your new dream. Here it is. Take the first step."

Watch a video of April training for the Paralympics
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