de los SANTOS Alfredo

Classification
H5 (uci.org, 21 Jun 2021)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (nytimes.com, 03 Nov 2013)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (nytimes.com, 03 Nov 2013)

Impairment Details
He was serving as a gunner with the United States Special Operations Command in Afghanistan. In October 2008 the Humvee he was travelling in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade [RPG]. He lost his right leg in the explosion. (nytimes.com, 03 Nov 2013)

General
ARTISTIC FLAIR
He has a passion for art, photography and painting, with his artwork exhibited around New York state in the United States of America, and in hospitals, homes and offices. "My painting gives me the place for expression, the perspective to let others see the things that are inside of me. It keeps me attached to the past, but I don't need to go back there. It lets me get the pain out and helps me move to a better future. I want people to stop and look at the colours, and then stay to see what I am saying. I am telling the story of my pain, my fear, my joy, what I am feeling in my heart. It is my experience, in the form of the painting." (paralympic.org, 06 May 2021)

CYCLING DISTRACTION
He says being on his bike helps take his mind off the pain he feels as a result of his impairment. "When I am cycling, I feel my manhood, that I am still the same. I am still powerful. But I'm an amputee, and sometimes, when I wake up in the morning, I look at myself and it's hard not to say I hate myself. I am always in pain. My back, arms, some kind of pain. But when I get on the bike, that pain is gone emotionally, and physically." (paralympic.org, 06 May 2021)