Empowering Movement is about leveraging the connection between mobility and people’s physical and mental wellbeing. Instead of losing hope when he lost his left leg six years ago, the accident became the beginning of an extraordinary journey that has empowered Emmanuel to challenge some of the fittest athletes in the world.
“I am determined to be the first athlete in Mexico who uses prosthetics to do an ironman, and then I want to be the only one in the world to do an ultramarathon.”
However, Emmanuel’s first goal after the accident was much more modest than running races of 50-100 kilometers – or competing in an Ironman that includes 3.8 kilometers of swimming, a 180-kilometer bike ride and finally 42.2 kilometers of running.
He progressed step-by-step, from the initial wheelchair to a walker before it was time to put on the prosthetic for the first time. That day he raised his arms and said: “You can do it!” And now, every day when he wakes up, he raises his hands just like that first time.
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“Reaching your goals is about taking one step, then you prepare for another, and so on. I empowered myself by always believing that I could achieve the next thing. The idea is to never stop moving.”
Watching people on TV doing races with no legs became an eye-opener for Emmanuel. “If they can do that, I can walk,” he said to himself.
Suddenly, goals that felt unthinkable after the accident, such as running 21 km or 30 km, felt possible. As he became stronger and increased his abilities, his self-confidence grew as well.
“Realizing that I was the only one who needed to believe that I could take that first step was the most important thing. Now I tell other people that they can do it too.”