Denton County Living Well Magazine July/August 2016 | Page 18

Amputee triathlete
has no hands
and no limits on life

I

Hector Picard

t’s 10 p.m., and as I am running down the George
Washington Bridge in New York City, I noticed
my wife Wendy. She asked me how I was feeling, and I told her that I was tired, in pain and
that I did not think I would ever do this again. This
was my first Ironman triathlon, an athletic event
that pushes the mind and body to its limits and encompasses a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle race
and 26.2-mile run within a time limit of 17 hours.
I had 10 miles to go and just two hours to complete it.
During this time all I did was think about all the ups and
downs I had gone through in the last 20 years that led up
to this moment––raising my two daughters, several career
changes, a tumultuous divorce, fighting depression, tackling the dating scene, meeting and marrying a wonderful
woman with two kids and becoming a grandfather. I never saw myself competing in an Ironman triathlon, especially after the accident that occurred on March 31, 1992.
As a motivational speaker, my accident is an important part of my presentation and story. I discuss how
the 13,000 volts that hit me twice from the substation
transformer took my entire right arm and half of my
left arm and that it burned 40% of my body and put
me in a coma for 30 days. I also talk about how it did
not take my life and my will to live it to the fullest.

16

DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JULY/AUGUST 2016

Yes, it has made my life extremely difficult, but also a lot
more interesting. Every day is full of obstacles, but the
highs that I get from overcoming them, whether small or
large, keep me going. In the