WALLACE Jarryd

Classification
T64, F64 (IPC, 06 Apr 2021)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (global.toyota, 22 Mar 2019)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (teamusa.org, 25 Aug 2020; global.toyota, 22 Mar 2019)

Impairment Details
In 2007 he was diagnosed with compartment syndrome, a condition in which blood vessels and nerves are compressed, causing high pressure to build up in the muscles. Having undergone ten operations, and having lost about 60% of the muscle in his right leg from the knee down, the leg was amputated below the knee in June 2010, when he was in his junior year at University of Georgia. (teamusa.org, 25 Aug 2020; global.toyota, 22 Mar 2019; gloryinthegame.com, 01 Jun 2011; onlineathens.com, 18 Aug 2010)

General
NINJA WARRIOR
In 2019 he featured on the US television show 'American Ninja Warrior', where participants race to complete obstacle courses. "One of the producers reached out to me when they had decided they were going to be filming in Atlanta and asked if I would be interested in competing on the show. I had never been in a ninja gym before, but I knew the show and was a big fan, so I thought it would be a really cool opportunity to share my story and represent US Paralympics as well." (teamusa.org, 05 Jun 2019)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He has worked as an executive producer on a documentary named 'Race to Tokyo', which followed his preparations and those of Japanese Para sprinter Keita Sato for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. He has also worked as a motivational speaker and as a project director for Xiborg, a Japanese prosthetic blade company. "We can't control the circumstances that happen to us, but we can control how we respond to them. I help people realise that adversity is relative. We all have unexpected things happen in our life, and it's OK to not be OK." (LinkedIn profile, 01 Dec 2020; redandblack.com, 26 Jul 2020; Race to Tokyo Facebook page, 04 Sep 2019)