GREWE Sam

Classification
T63, F63 (IPC, 03 Mar 2021)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (Athlete, 28 Sep 2017)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Athlete, 28 Sep 2017)

Impairment Details
At age 13 he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma [bone cancer] after a tumour was found behind his right knee. He underwent rotationplasty surgery, with his right knee and part of his leg amputated and the remaining part reattached so his ankle could work as a replacement knee. "The artificial joints they would have had to put in would be too fragile for me to ever return to sports. So I decided to go with the amputation just to provide even the slightest option, the slightest possibility, of a return to athletics." (Facebook page, 14 Jun 2017; teamusa.org, 16 Jul 2015; Uplifting Athletes, 10 Jul 2013; strongofheart.nd.edu, 01 Jan 2017)

General
FURTHER STUDIES
In 2021 he began studying at the University of Michigan Medical School in the United States of America. (Instagram profile, 19 Mar 2021)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In January 2020 he began working as an intern for the University of Michigan's MDisability programme, which was developed to promote the inclusion of people with impairments in healthcare research, education, practice and community engagement. "They [MDisability] really are able to provide a lot of disheartening insight into what medicine is like with a disability. There's just no people with disabilities as doctors. I've never had a doctor myself who has a disability." He served as co-leader of MDisability's 'Staying Fit While Staying Put' project, an eight-week exercise regime designed to help people with impairments exercise at home. (teamusa.org, 01 Sep 2020)

HONORARY TEAM MEMBER
In 2012 he was adopted by the American football team of the University of Notre Dame as he was having treatment for osteosarcoma [bone cancer]. He would attend matches, spend time with the team and travelled with them to the national championship match in Miami, FL, United States of America. (wndu.com, 23 Sep 2013)