She may be an amputee, but when it comes to will power and strong determination to perform, Amy Palmiero can beat even the toughest person on earth! The 37 year old mother of two lost her left leg when a motorcycle ran over her leg causing damage to her ankle.  Initially doctors said that surgery could help save her leg but it was later found that owing to the damage caused, she had to be amputated. 

Amputation came like a shock to Amy who was an enthusiastic runner.  When she finally conceded to the amputation, she was eager to resume running and started looking at her options in terms of prosthesis.  Her prosthetist Erik Schaffer explains that amputees are at a physical disadvantage as opposed to normal runners since they exert more energy because of their missing joints. 

However with her state of the art componentry worth a whopping $26,000 which was created by Schaffer and his team, Amy has managed to start running again.  Since then she has achieved 12 amputee world records from the 5K to the Ironman Triathlon.  She was also nominated for the ESPY award and Runner’s World Hero of Running distinction in 2007.  She was also named as the USATF Runner of the Week last October and listed as the Runner of the Decade by the Washington Post. 

Her success and perseverance Amy attributes it to her family who has always been supportive as well as people around her who have always made her feel positive about her situation.  Despite her achievements, she remains modest and says that she is not a supernormal person, she is neither a disabled a person.  She is normal and trying to live her life simply and doing things that she loves.