Also in there, amputee football teams and the Michael Jordan of wheelchair basketball.

Although you can see all our  medalists on the official website, you can now also see them here:

BOUWER Charl    gold
du TOIT Natalie    gold x5
HAYES Ilse    1 gold, 1 silver
JOHNSON Philippa    gold x2
KILPATRICK Gavin, THOMSON Michael    bronze
LANGENHOVEN Hilton    gold x3
LOMBARD Fanie    1 gold, 1 bronze
MOKGALAGADI Teboho    bronze
NEL Riaan    silver
NEWMAN Nicholas    bronze
PAUL Kevin    gold
PISTORIUS Oscar    gold x3
ROOS David    silver
SAPIRO Shireen    gold
SLATTERY Tadhg    bronze
van der MERWE Fanie    gold x2
van DYK Ernst    1 gold, 1 bronze

Meet Molly.  She’s a grey speckled pony who was abandoned by her owners when Hurricane Katrina hit southern  Louisiana .  She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled. While there, she was attacked by a pit bull terrier and almost died.  Her gnawed right front leg became infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case. You know how that goes.

But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he changed his mind.  He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn’t seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her.  She protected her injured leg.  She constantly shifted her weight and didn’t overload her good leg.  She was a smart pony with a serious survival ethic.

Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee, and a temporary artificial limb was built.  Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.

‘This was the right horse and the right owner,’ Moore insists.  Molly happened to be a one-in-a-million patient.  She’s tough as nails, but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. She made it obvious she understood that she was in trouble.  The other important factor, according to Moore , is having a truly committed and compliant owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care required over the lifetime of the horse.

Molly’s story turns into a parable for life in post-Katrina Louisiana .  The little pony gained weight, and her mane finally felt a comb.  A human prosthesis designer built her a leg.

The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca DVM, Molly’s regular vet, reports.

And she asks for it.  She will put her little limb out, and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on.  Sometimes she wants you to take it off too.  And sometimes, Molly gets away from Barca.  ‘It can be pretty bad when you can’t catch a three-legged horse,’ she laughs.

Most important of all, Molly has a job now.  Kay, the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers.  Anywhere she thought that people needed hope.  Wherever Molly went, she showed people her pluck.  She inspired people, and she had a good time doing it.

‘It’s obvious to me that Molly had a bigger role to play in life,? Moore said.  ‘She survived the hurricane, she survived a horrible injury, and now she is giving hope to others.’

Barca concluded, ‘She’s not back to normal, but she’s going to be better.  To me, she could be a symbol for New Orleans itself.’

Jiang Fuying of China came 3rd in the women’s 100m backstroke S6. 

Oscar Pistorius won a gold in the men’s 100m T44.

And the women’s 100m T44 was very dramatic with the woman in front going down and taking the 2nd placed athlete with her. Green from Germany won the event.

Well, seems that now even monkeys are into picking up grapes with robotic arms that they control with their minds.

The demonstrator even picked up a ball and placed it on top of a turned-over cup. “Luke” can be controlled by using your brian, muscle censors or through your feet.

After his recovery he has participated in skiing, snow-boarding, paragliding, caving, orienteering and sailing. He’s also ran the London marathon and climbed Kilimajaro.

So I took my click to my prosthesist today to get it sorted. Turned out to be dirt in the foot that got a bit sticky.

I have suddenly lost quite a bit of volume in the leg during the past week. He also fitted the socket with a foamy material to take up some of the volume. He says that many amputees struggle for the first 2 to 3 years with volume loss in their stumps. Below are pictures of the 4 different items we have used thus far to address the volume loss.

Extra stump socks

Leather padding inside the socket

Silicon patches

A foam patch on the back of the socket

My mom wrote the following:

When I received the news of Hendrik and Rene’s accident on Saturday morning 28 October 2006, it was every mother’s worst nightmare came true.  I was so thankful that they were both alive, not expecting what I would find when I arrived at the hospital.  It was the beginning of an emotional roller coaster, between hope and despair. None of us expected the dragged out sequence of events that followed.

Totally unexpected was all the support from friends and family that we all received during this period.  As a mother, your child’s pain is your pain – all I wanted to do was to make it better, but I was so helpless.  It was tough not to be over-protective and not to show too much emotion.  I was often concerned if the daily visits were to tiring for him.  It was hard to find a balance.

Hendrik’s recovery after the amputation was rapid.  Hendrik is such an inspiration to me when I see how he copes and makes the best of every situation.  Hendrik has always been a fighter.  The one thing that became clear to me during this trying period was that you have to allow yourself to grieve.  Even though it was not my limb that was amputated, I went through a grieving period.

A year after the accident, our family spent a few days holidaying together at the coast.  To see how Hendrik was coping with his prosthesis and also to realize that he is still the same person was a liberating experience. He still plays pranks on us like before, and given half a chance will playfully ruff us around just like before.  I came to realize that I don’t have to feel sorry for him. He is coping and living life to the full.  

Also see ‘Living with an amputee‘ for another take from someone living with an amputee.

One of the comments I’ve seen was that “you would’ve thought that he’d take up soccer”. Instead he’s playing basketball and baseball…with 1 arm. He’s had to be innovative in overcoming his disability.

This is one of the inspirational stories that I would’ve loved to hear about during the time that I waited for my amputation. I hope that others will also find inspiration from these stories.