The Day I Stopped Asking 'Why Me? | Blake Leeper - video Dailymotion

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Eight-time Paralympic Track and Field Champion Blake Leeper recounts the day he stopped asking himself 'Why Me?' and started asking 'Why Not Me?'

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00:00 but doctors said I would never walk a day in my life.

00:02 I remember I was playing tee ball

00:03 about five or six years old.

00:05 This tee ball season, I wanted to do one thing,

00:07 one thing only, I wanted to hit a home run.

00:10 And there was two reasons why I really wanted

00:12 to hit the home run.

00:13 The first reason was for my father.

00:15 You know, me and him together would show the world

00:17 that I could do it.

00:19 He would be so proud of me.

00:20 And the second reason was for my teammates.

00:22 You know, if I hit a home run,

00:23 they would accept me and love me.

00:25 And I remember like it was yesterday,

00:27 I walked up to the plate and then on the third swing,

00:29 I hit the ball as hard as I can.

00:31 The ball just starts flying in the air.

00:33 And I get so excited that I forget to run.

00:36 So everybody's saying, "Run, Blake, run."

00:39 I'm on my way to second,

00:40 and I look over on my way to second,

00:41 I see my dad, you know, on third base cheering for me.

00:44 He's so excited.

00:45 This is the moment that I was waiting for.

00:46 He's jumping up and down, talking about,

00:47 "You got this, you got this."

00:48 I look over to my teammates,

00:50 and they're like jumping on the fence,

00:52 yelling for me, saying, "Run, Blake, run."

00:53 And I'm on my way to third base,

00:55 and on my way to third base, my leg falls.

00:58 I eat dirt, right?

01:00 The guy comes over and tags me out.

01:03 The inning's over, and I look over to my dad

01:06 and all the excitement that he had,

01:08 he was, you know, it was gone.

01:10 And I look over to my teammates,

01:12 and, you know, they was jumping and yelling for me.

01:14 You know what I mean?

01:15 They was done doing that.

01:16 I can remember while I'm sitting there in the dirt

01:19 with my leg, you know, one leg on, one leg off.

01:22 I felt like I let my father down.

01:25 I felt like I let my teammates down.

01:28 I was mad at myself.

01:29 You know, I was mad at the world.

01:32 I remember asking myself, "Why me?

01:34 "I don't get this.

01:37 "This doesn't make sense.

01:38 "This isn't fair.

01:39 "Why am I the one born without legs?

01:42 "Why am I the one that has to go through this?

01:44 "Look at my father, my mother, my brother,

01:46 "my teammates, everybody has their legs.

01:47 "This makes, this isn't fair."

01:49 I always remember I was asking the wrong question.

01:51 I was asking something I had no control over.

01:55 You know what I mean?

01:55 Why me?

01:56 So I decided to flip it.

01:58 I decided to take control over it.

02:01 Decided to ask myself, "Well, why not me?

02:03 "I'm meant for this.

02:04 "Well, why not me?

02:04 "I'm strong enough for this.

02:05 "Well, why not me?

02:07 "I'm smart enough for this."

02:08 Everything that we go through is for a reason.

02:10 Whether it's something big or something small,

02:11 that it's preparedness for our next mission.

02:13 So that moment when I fell down and my leg fell off

02:16 and I had that feeling of letting my teammates

02:18 and my father down, that feeling of failure,

02:20 that's the moments that built me.

02:22 That's not how hard you can hit, right?

02:24 Life is not about that.

02:25 Life is about how hard you can get hit

02:27 and keep moving forward.

02:29 I was about 17, 18 years old

02:31 and I got my first pair of running blades.

02:33 Something kind of came over me.

02:35 I was running as hard as I can.

02:37 I could feel the way the wind was hitting my face.

02:40 I've never felt that ever.

02:42 My heart was pumping.

02:43 You know what I mean?

02:44 My blood was flowing.

02:45 In that moment, I knew this is what I want.

02:48 All those doubts and people think I won't be able to

02:52 or no, you can't, that's the field to the fire.

02:54 I will show you how hard I've worked.

02:57 I will show you my capabilities.

03:00 I will show you how I fight through adversity

03:03 to prove them that this is not my disability,

03:07 that this is my ability.

03:08 I was actually in the 2012 Paralympic Games

03:11 where I took a silver and a bronze.

03:13 After I won my first Olympic medal,

03:15 I kind of met the family, like in a part of the stadium.

03:18 I looked over and my grandfather was actually crying.

03:21 And I remember that moment, just it was tears of,

03:23 you know, it wasn't tears of sadness.

03:24 It was tears of joy.

03:25 He was just so excited and so happy for his grandson

03:28 that was born without legs.

03:30 And for me, that was the first time

03:31 I ever seen the crowd before.

03:33 And just that moment right there,

03:35 that's the reason why I wake up each and every day

03:37 and grind and put forth the effort

03:40 to become one of the fastest men in the world,

03:42 legs or no legs.

03:43 So, you know, my story is that anything is possible.

03:46 You can do anything, as long as you set your mind to it

03:49 and as long as you focus hard and you put 120% effort

03:52 in whatever task that is at hand,

03:55 you can overcome any challenge that's thrown your way.

03:57 We all, you know, face certain challenges,

03:59 have some type of disability,

04:00 whether you're born short, born tall, born without legs,

04:02 whatever it is,

04:03 you should never be a victim of your circumstances.

04:06 Life is 10% of what you're dealt with

04:08 and 90% on how you deal with it.

04:10 Focus on that 90, that 10%, you have no control over.

04:13 Whatever challenges that you're facing today,

04:15 embrace them, right?

04:17 Whatever struggles that you're going through,

04:19 that you're gonna go through tomorrow,

04:21 accept it, be excited about it

04:24 because it's gonna show you how to overcome that challenge.

04:28 Whatever else is thrown at me, I can face it.

04:31 I used to forget everything and run,

04:33 now I face everything and I rise.

04:36 My name is Blake Lieber,

04:37 I'm a two-time Track and Field world record holder,

04:39 eight-time international medalist,

04:42 and I was born without legs.

04:44 (upbeat music)

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05:04 you

The Day I Stopped Asking 'Why Me? | Blake Leeper

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