Brazilian athlete, 31-year-old law Silva, looks forward to crossing the finish line of 42.2 km marathon TCS new York in 2018 Sunday 4 November 2018. Press Secretary of “new York Marathon”, which in 1970 organized the race, said that she will become the first woman amputee to finish the full marathon in new York.
“I hope to inspire people who will see how I run, and challenge them not to give up things that seem unattainable,” said Silva, which will hold its first full marathon. “Where I come from, people often look down on people with disabilities, but I don’t think about it. When I face a problem I look for ways to overcome it. I see opportunities, and it stimulates me”.
Silva will run as an Ambassador for ADRA Connections, a volunteer program managed by the worldwide charitable organization Adventist Development Relief (ADRA), and it will also be supported by the American manufacturing company of sports goods, The North Face.
“We are very proud to support Adriano in this race,” said the ADRA Connections Manager Adam Vamac. “It represents the commitment of ADRA to empower people worldwide to improve the lives and provide new opportunities to the poor to enable them to flourish.
“Through the ADRA Connections Team we want to encourage other athletes and fans to use sports to achieve good results and to invite people to be generous to a socially unprotected families could have better access to schools, improved housing, clean water and other important necessities”.
The motivation for expanding the boundaries
The path of Silva for the marathon in new York began in 2012, when she went to the hospital in his hometown, Jundiai abroad in são Paulo, Brazil, he felt a strong pain. After receiving painkillers, she was sent home. Over night, her situation has worsened.
The next day she returned to the hospital to learn that her problem is serious: the stone in the kidneys covers the urinary tract and causes infection. After a few hours, Silva was put into an artificial coma. For 20 days she remained in a coma, and her body fought a losing battle against bacteria.
During this time the infection has led to stagnation of blood circulation in her legs. To save a life, doctors had only one choice: to amputate her legs. They took her out of the coma to obtain consent to perform the amputation. When she finally got rid of the infection in 64, she left the hospital after a bilateral amputation to have to relearn how to live.
“Before the amputation I had no desire to run,” she says. “After that, I began to wonder. Again I wanted to be a normal person.
Since then, Silva is Jogging, Cycling, swimming and other sports. She participated in 20 races in Brazil and in China, where in 2018, it completed the half marathon of the great Wall. In 2017, she became the first woman with two amputees who participated in the Iron Man race in Brazil. In addition, she is the only person with two amputees in Brazil, who ran the 100-yard dash, a record that she set — and he still holds — when wearing the prosthesis. She also plans to learn to perform on a snowboard to one day perform at the Paralympic tournament. Silva trains every day, including weights, and continues physical therapy to hone their skills in running prostheses.
“I’m honored to participate in such a great competition in new York and meet with many other good runners that arrived on competitions from all over the world,” says Silva. “Although I haven’t won the race, I feel great knowing that I have the potential to run the distance, and that makes me a champion.”
While in the US, Silva spoke on behalf of ADRA Connections at the 25th annual San Diego Triathlon Challenge aseptic medical products (SDTC), held on 21 October in La Hall, California. She participated in the 1-mile swim meet, followed by a 10-mile race. In November 2018, before a return to Brazil, she will participate in a series of North End Endurance Challenge in San Francisco, California. It will have several talks about faith in universities and societies to raise awareness about people with disabilities and encourage people to active sports and Ministry.
About ADRA Connections
ADRA Connections is a global volunteer program that enables people-oriented service first to fulfill the mission of ADRA through short-term projects and to contribute to the communities that they serve. In July 2018 ADRA Connections organized the largest US volunteer trip in which took part more than 200 students from seven universities in the United States and Brazil in the heart of the Amazon.
Follow Adrieli Silva in training here.