11 Brave People Who Have No Body Parts But Become Superhumans

There are millions of people in the world who live without arms or legs, but the truth is that we rarely see them around. Many of these people deal with the problem by wearing prostheses that mimic real human limbs.

But there are those who don’t need to have all their body parts to feel complete. O awesome.club features some of these superheroes.

At age 14, Mama Cax was diagnosed with bone and lung cancer. Doctors said she would live 3 weeks. And even though her right leg was amputated, Mama survived. And she turned into a model and fashion-bloggermaking the prosthesis an interesting detail of her look.

Mama is often photographed for editorials in magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and her Instagram has around 119,000 followers who admire her strength and beauty. “At 16, my body was covered in scars, and I didn’t feel pretty at all. But the scars are marks of an uphill battle, which I won,” she says.

Aimee Mullins, 41, has an incredibly inspiring story. Because of a bone problem, she had her legs amputated in childhood, but that didn’t stop her from entering the list of the 50 most beautiful people in the world according to People magazine, from playing sports and setting 3 world records, from acting in movies, participate in fashion shows and grace the pages of Vogue, Glamor and Elle.

Aimee has a collection of very extravagant prostheses, and boasts that she can, with their help, change her height, going from 1.73m to 1.82m. Here you can check out Amy’s TED speech.

At the age of 17, Canadian Emery Vanderburgh lost her leg to osteosarcoma – bone cancer. She says: “The prosthesis almost always brings a sense of shame, but I decided to go the other way. I had never used a prosthesis that looked like a natural leg. I look at it as proof that I survived difficult times.”

Nowadays, Emery is a social activist who advocates for affordable prostheses for all who need them, in addition to maintaining a blog about her life.

When she was 10, Kiara Marshall was hit by a drunk driver. The result of this was the amputation of his leg up to the knee. Today, the young woman is 25 years old and continues to live her life fully.

Kiara is mountaineering and kayaking, works as a model and speaker, supporting others without ends. She uses a wide variety of prints on her prosthesis, harmoniously complementing the looks she chooses.

The 29-year-old British woman named Viktoria Modesta, of Soviet origin, had her hip dislocated at birth in a case of medical error, and spent almost her entire childhood in hospitals, undergoing 15 surgeries. The procedures did not solve the problem and, at age 19, Victoria opted for amputation.

Victoria’s eye-catching image features 8 different prostheses, for example the “stereo leg”, a prosthesis made with crystals and another prosthesis in the shape of a shiny black thorn. The young woman achieved fame as a singer and model, participated in shows at Milan Fashion Week and was hired by Samsung and Vodafone.

Jason Barnes, 28, is the fastest drummer in the world. That’s 20 beats per second! Also, he is the only “cyborg” musician. Jason has always been passionate about music and dreamed of becoming a professional drummer, but after an accident his musical career seemed to have come to an end, as his arm was amputated up to the elbow. However, the boy did not take long to recover: he attached the drumstick to the simplest prosthesis and continued rehearsing. It’s impossible to say what would have happened had Professor Gil Weinberg of the Georgia Institute of Technology not created an entirely new device just for Barnes.

Barnes’ prosthesis makes it possible to use two sticks at the same time: one of them is controlled by sensors attached to the muscles, while the other is connected to a special program that “listens” to the rhythm of the music and improvises.

In 2017, the academic created an even more perfect prosthesis for Jason: each finger can be controlled separately, which allows the boy to even play the piano.

Another case that we could cite here is that of the drummer of British hard rock band Def Leppard, Rick Allen, who, in 1984, lost his left arm in a car accident. Allen not only recovered but returned to play with the band, configuring the drums to use more pedals and thus playing with his feet and his remaining arm. Last year, he and the band were in Brazil.

The American Angel Giuffria was born without a hand and already wore a prosthesis at 4 months. In 27 years, she has used more than 30 prostheses. Angel is a psychologist, speaker and actress. She was in 4 movies including “The Hunger Games”.

Angel likes to stand out from the crowd. She says she loves her bionic hand and calls it a cyborg as she finds the word so much fun. On Instagram, the young woman shows that the lack of extremities is not a reason for a dull life. She practices archery, target shooting and other sports.

The amputation of an arm did not prevent the British Jo-Jo Cranfield, 25 years old, from becoming a professional swimmer and winning medals in international competitions. In addition, she gives motivational speeches and teaches swimming lessons.

Jo-Jo spent a long time without using prostheses because she considered them uncomfortable, but until she met designer Sophie de Oliveira Barata, who created a “snake arm” for her. Jo-Jo likes the surprise she causes in people and that she feels strong and beautiful.

Another great example in this area is the Brazilian Daniel Dias, who was born without hands and feet. Daniel is the biggest medalist in Paralympic swimming with 24 medals. And he has already won the Laureus award, the Oscar of sport.

James Young, 27, from the UK, lost his leg and arm after falling under a train. He spent two weeks in a coma and underwent 12 surgeries.

James struggled to manage common prosthetics, and a year later he was lucky enough to be given a bionic arm as the hero of the computer game Metal Gear Solid, of which he is a fan. The prosthesis recognizes muscle signals, has a laser light, USB connector, integrated clock and a mini drone connected to the shoulder.

In 2001, Kiera Roche was in an accident. Doctors operated on her for 11 hours, but they still had to amputate her right leg. Today, she is president of Limb Power, a charitable organization that helps amputees live fulfilling lives. Keira believes that her example inspires others: “I walked the Great Wall of China, sailed the Nile, cycled from London to Paris and conquered Mount Snowdon, the highest point in Wales”.

Several years after the tragedy, Keira was obsessed with looking like someone “normal”, hiding the prosthesis under her clothes. But now she doesn’t feel the slightest shame about her missing legs. She has the “right” leg for every occasion, in particular the porcelain one, which looks like a true work of art.

British Kelly Knox, 34, was born without her left forearm, which never stopped her from working as a model and posing for Procter & Gamble and Marie Claire. She often chooses not to use the prosthesis, wanting to highlight the lack of an arm. However, she takes pleasure in taking part in photo shoots in which the artificial arm forms part of the artistic image.

Kelly states: “I am imperfect in the eyes of society, but I accept myself as I am and I am proud of myself.” Kelly has an important message for each of us: “Don’t destroy yourself trying to be perfect.”