00:00I want to make this video to show you how I put on my legs.
00:03We're all different. We're not the same.
00:05Not all amputees are the same.
00:07And that's okay.
00:18My vision is one day that an athlete,
00:21able-bodied and adaptive athlete,
00:22can walk into a store and get their equipment
00:25or order it and it's side by side.
00:30My vision is one day that an athlete,
00:33able-bodied and adaptive athlete,
00:35can walk into a store and get their equipment
00:38or order it and it's side by side.
01:00One of the things I wish I told myself is just
01:09not hate what makes you look so different
01:12and what's setting you apart from this world
01:14because these differences are also,
01:17have hidden superpower and just
01:20hidden talent in them.
01:30She never gave up on me.
01:37She kept fighting for me.
01:38She was told multiple times,
01:40we have a baby here, we have a baby there.
01:42You wanted a baby anyways.
01:44And she said, no, this is my daughter.
01:53I was always active as a little girl
01:55and I got into ice skating, horseback riding.
01:58It wasn't until when I was 13 that I got,
02:01I was introduced to adaptive sports.
02:04And honestly, I did not want to do adaptive sports
02:07only because I felt like I was being limited,
02:10put in a bubble based on how I looked.
02:12When I first got on the boat and took my legs off,
02:15which I was terrified to do,
02:17where I just felt like I belonged somewhere finally.
02:21It transitioned from that moment to just
02:24falling in love with adaptive sports
02:26and sports in general to somebody saying,
02:29you can go and be competitive.
02:30And I was like, what? You can do that?
02:56It broke my heart going into Beijing,
03:12where it's supposed to be this,
03:14the highest moment of my athletic career,
03:17everything you look for to just be deflated a little bit
03:22because I do have family there
03:24and I am proud of Ukraine.
03:25And that is one of my favorite things as an athlete is
03:29especially at world championships and Paralympic Games
03:33is because those are the moments I get to walk in
03:36with the American flag and the Ukrainian flag side by side.
03:47When I'm about to give them their equipment
03:50and just see their face,
03:53it's like going back in time from when I got my first equipment
03:57and I felt that game changer for me.
03:59One was Amanda and she was just, oh my gosh,
04:03she freaked out when she found out her monoski was hers
04:07and she no longer had to drive one hour
04:11just to get from Wisconsin to Chicago area
04:15to use that equipment because that is the problem
04:18a lot of adaptive athletes are doing.
04:20They have to drive two to three hours
04:22just to even do it that one day and then go home.
04:35Honestly, when people are watching the highest level
04:39at the Paralympic Games on TV
04:41of all the equipment that we're using,
04:43I think what they don't realize is
04:46you don't just go online, order your bike,
04:50order your skis, order your legs or anything like that
04:54and then it just comes and it fits you perfectly
04:56like a pair of shoe size or something.
04:58What people don't realize too is
05:00if you have a piece of equipment
05:02and you're trying to get to that level,
05:04then it breaks.
05:05You have to go through that process all over again
05:07and it's an additional like some equipment
05:09and you're just putting $5,000 to $40,000
05:13Hartford's passion and ability that it has to inspire
05:18and bring awareness to adaptive sports
05:23and adaptive equipment is just...
05:27I wish I had it when I was a little girl.
05:29I wish that existed for me.
05:30I'm so happy, but I wish I had that too.
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