Few young adults would have the maturity and bravery to voluntarily have their leg amputated, but one British former soldier is now reaping the benefits from that courageous call.
Owen Pick was still only a teenager when he chose to give up on the leg which had been causing him excruciating pain for the previous 18 months.
During his first tour of Afghanistan with the Royal Anglian Regiment as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, he stepped on the bomb which cut short his military career before it had had the chance to start.
His right leg was initially saved, but those 18 months of living in constant pain saw Owen, from Barton Mills in Suffolk, slump into depression.
"At that stage I was in so much pain that having the leg off was a relief, Owen said "I wasn't thinking about the next day – just about getting shot of the pain.
"The doctors had managed to save it after the blast, and I had operations, but I couldn't use it properly and it was giving me pain all the time. The heel, the foot and the shin were completely shattered.”
The military career he had dreamed of since joining the Army Cadets as a youngster was over, but while in rehabilitation he found a new passion.
Pick initially took up wakeboarding, but turned his attention to snowboarding when he realised the colder months were not an ideal time to be out on a lake.
So he contacted military charity Blesma, The Limbless Veterans, and was soon invited to give the sport a try on a trip to Colorado in the winter of 2012/13.
"My first experience on a snowboard was horrible. The initial three days were hard," he admitted.
"I spent most of the time on my face, constantly crashing. There was a lot of me punching the snow out of frustration. Then halfway through day four, everything just clicked. It got easier."
As he practiced more, he realised he had an affinity and a love for the sport – which blossomed over the following years and saw him become part of Team GB's first Paralympic para-snowboarding team at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang.
Pick finished ninth in both the snowboard cross SB-LL2 and the banked slalom, a result he later admitted he was "gutted" with as he had been targeting a medal.
That is once again his desire now that he has been confirmed as a part of Team GB for the Beijing Winter Paralympics, which begin on March 4.
Pick will get the chance to set the record straight and show off the talent which saw him crowned Dew Tour champion in 2020.
But that would most likely not have happened had Blesma not stepped in to fund his snowboarding career after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
"When the pandemic hit, it meant I couldn’t work my summer airsoft job, which is how I fund the following season," he explained.
"So when the travel ban was lifted and the season restarted, Blesma stepped in to support me.
"Without the funding, I wouldn't be able to afford the season, which means I may have only got to a few competitions but not all of them.
"I wouldn't have been able to get the points to be able to get to the Games."
This time, now he has experience of a previous Paralympics campaign under his belt, he says he feels calmer and more confident.
"I'm not as nervous, because I've experienced the Games before and I've felt what it's like to not do as well as what I want to do.
"So, this time I think my aim is to enjoy it. Nine times out of ten if I'm enjoying myself, the results show for that. Hopefully, it works this time."
