For most of the riders out there, being a Dakar competitor is a dream which will never come true. However, this story below is a most inspiring example of determination, if riding in the Dakar with a prosthetic leg could be reduced only to this word.
Welcome Erez Avramov, a mountain biker and motorcycle rider who aims to become the first amputee in the Dakar Rally. His life was just like any other rider’s, with ups and downs, until the fall of 2010 when he collided head-on with a truck and barely lived.
His right femur was broken into 17 pieces, alongside a crushed knee, multiple rib and sternum fractures and was mauled really bad. However, he wasn’t exactly ready to give up, and neither were some doctors who hoped their skill and dedication will pay off, especially when mixed with determination.
Off goes the leg, but Erez is indeed lucky
One of the doctors operating him opposed to an above-the-knee amputation. Three of them were in favor of such an amputation, but the 4th just said that since they have all the pieces of the bone, they could just put them together and see where this thing goes. “We can always amputate later,” he added.
Erez was young and his body was able to heal to the point where amputating the leg above the knee was no longer needed. However, the doctors had to remove it from below, but by then, Erez was already beginning to cope with his future status.
Half a dozen surgeries and 3.5 years later, he is aiming to ride in the Dakar. After he got his carbon fiber prosthetic, he rode a bike, drove a car just to see if he could do it and even got on a motorcycle. This last attempt confused him because he felt he was no longer able to control the machine with his leg, but in the end he pulled through.
So we might get to see January bringing British Columbia’s Erez Avramov history-making presence at the start of the Dakar. Follow Erez Avramov on Facebook to keep up with his progress.
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