"I lost a leg, but I gained a life."

BarcelonaFiona Pinar was skiing in La Molina with two friends when she fell. All three were experienced skiers, but one of the slopes was icy that day. The skier lost her balance. "I saw snow and felt very cold on my face... and then, nothing," she recalls. The crash was severe. When she got up, she wasn't wearing her ski boot. "I noticed my foot was facing one way and my knee was facing the other. I think I hit something, but I don't remember anything," she explained during an interview on The RevoltHis testimony of having his foot amputated went viral.

"I had a bone broken in three places," she explained. Emergency services transported her by helicopter to Girona, where doctors attempted to save her leg with three operations. One of the attempts involved removing veins and arteries from her other leg to try to restore blood flow. "When I spoke to my mother, I told her they would have to amputate my foot. No one had told me this yet, but I saw that my foot was very white and I saw it coming. She thought I was exaggerating."

Pinar was hospitalized for 41 days and underwent seven operations. "My leg was in shambles, and they had to reattach the stump, move muscles, and reattach skin from one leg to the other. They thought I was likely to lose my knee as well, but in the end, I saved it. A nurse recommended I say goodbye to my knee."

"When I was still in the ICU, I told my mother that I wanted to participate in the Paralympic Games. I visualized it. The doctors told me I could do swimming, but I started with the CrossFit And then I switched to athletics." Her rapid adaptation surprised everyone. "From the time they put my first prosthesis in until I went to the Paralympic Games, it was only eight months," said Pinar, who competes in the 100 and 200 meters. The Catalan has a scholarship from the Paralympic Committee and is also studying, collaborating with others through social media.

"I use fear as motivation. My leg was never bad. I cried for ten minutes with my parents. I knew how to turn the situation around," she explained during her conversation with David Broncano. The amputation changed her life. "With the accident, another Fiona was born. Before the accident, I was one person, and now I am another. I left the hospital with the highest self-esteem possible. I lost a leg, but I gained a life," she concluded.

An adapted life

Pinar has a 33% disability but does not have reduced mobility. "I can't park in special spaces," he explained. Before he had a prosthesis, he moved around the house on one leg. "For a time, one quadriceps was much more developed than the other, but now I work both in a more balanced way. The goal is to have more or less the same musculature," he explained.

"I went to the Paralympic Games with a back injury. The life of an amputee is very complicated, and I broke a vertebra. Now I run with a support belt because I don't want to be injured," he analyzed. His next goal is to qualify for the World Championships in India. "I'd like to make it to Los Angeles in 2028," confessed the athlete, who lives in the Sant Cugat CAR (Car Park).