Carlos Garcia

When you meet Carlos Garcia, you know this is a young man that is going to make a difference.

Carlos was 17 when he was diagnosed with

osteosarcoma (bone cancer). After initial treatment with limb salvage, Carlos had a recurrence when he was 21. At that time his left leg was amputated above the knee. He is now 24, and going on three years in remission.

Carlos is majoring in Kinesiology at St. Edwards

University. His future plan is to go to UT Southwestern and earn a Master’s degree in prosthetics and

orthotics. He decided to go into prosthetics because he is really intrigued at how prosthetics work. Also, by being an amputee, he knows he will be able to bring great insight to new amputees and show them that amputation isn’t the end of the road.

OPT was especially proud to sponsor Carlos in the Livestrong ride on October 25^th. In Carlos’ own words:

“It means the world to me that Aaron Foreman (Prosthetist) went out of his way to make me a cycling leg. Cycling has given me a huge part of my life back that has been missing for years, which was sports. Now I am able to be active again and cycling is my sport. The competitive fire that I always had for sports is something that had been taken away from me, but thanks to OPT, I now have that fire again. My new goal is to one day be in the Paralympics games for cycling and I will not stop until I reach that goal. Being able to ride in the Livestrong Challenge was a monumental moment in my life, just to further prove to myself that amputation and cancer for that matter will not keep me from living my life to the fullest and doing the things I want to do.

A saying that I tell myself all the time is that no matter the challenge or obstacle- never quit- and live life with no limits”.

We have no doubt whatsoever that Carlos will reach all his goals.