The Athlete With No Arms and No Limits

Hector Picard hits softballs, shoots hoops, swims and cycles in Ironman competitions … and he does all of this without arms.

At the age of 24, Hector was involved in a devastating workplace accident where he was removing power equipment and was struck with 13,000 volts through his right arm. As he was falling, he reached out with his left arm and was hit with 13,000 more volts before falling two stories as he was on fire.

Hector fell into a coma for 30 days and when he woke, both his arms were gone and he had second and third-degree burns covering 40% of his body.

The first couple of years after the accident, he spent his time adjusting to his new lifestyle, undergoing surgery and monitoring skin grafts. Feeling down, Hector found motivation from coaching his daughters and working out at the gym. That’s where his passion for sports started.

Since losing his arms, Hector has completed 115 triathlons, cycled from Florida to New York City, completed a 13-kilometre open-ocean swim and became the first double amputee to finish the Ironman World Championship.

He especially wants to an inspiration for kids going through similar struggles.

"I'm not afraid to say I want to be a role model for kids," Hector told ESPN.

"Especially kids with disabilities. When they're growing up and they're running into all these obstacles and all these hardships, they see someone like me - and I'm similar to them - and they can feel like they can accomplish anything."

Nowadays Hector works as a motivational speaker, is a full-time sponsored athlete and trains 18-20 hours a week.

No excuses, no limits!

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