Teen told he’d never walk again surfs, snowboards and drives his own car

By Brelaun Douglas via SWNS

This brave triple amputee can surf, snowboard and has now walked across the stage to receive his degree - 20 years after being told he’d never walk again.

Cameron Clapp, 35, was hit by a train in September 2001, losing both of his legs above the knee and his right arm at the shoulder.

ButClapp refused to accept this, and just five months later was able to walk independently on prosthetic legs.

“I was crossing the street, and that’s the last thing I remember,” saidClapp, of San Luis Obispo, California, USA, who grew up across the train tracks from the beach.

“The first clinician we went to told my parents ‘get a good wheelchair, Cameron’s never going to walk again.'

“At the time you have a lot of insecurities and fears because you don’t know where life is going to go when you wake up in the hospital and realize you’re a trilateral amputee,” he said.

“But I’ve always been a fighter, a very outgoing, athletic, determined individual, and this was a new challenge for me that I took on.”

Cameron Clapp after his accident.(Hanger Clinic via SWNS)

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Since then,Clapp has been able to regain his athletic life, snowboarding, surfing and even running half marathons with his prosthetic limbs.

“Going through this journey of recovery and becoming proficient with prosthetic limbs has been incredible,” he said.

“I’m completely independent - I live by myself, I drive a car, I do everything.

“I live life to the fullest with 100 percent, full-time prosthetic legs.”

Four years ago,Clapp decided to return to college, balancing it with his time mentoring others people with limb loss.

He now teaches other bilateral, above-knee amputees how to walk and navigate their new lives at the Hanger Clinic, the same clinic he received help and support from.

On June 13, he graduated summa cum laude and walked across the stage on his prosthetic legs to receive his B.A. in sociology from California Polytechnic State University.

Clapp said: “Walking across the stage with my two prosthetic legs, knowing my history and that I persevered through this academic journey and pandemic mixed with the president giving me a shoutout, graduating with the highest honors and being a first-generation college graduate, was exhilarating and just an amazing feeling.

“Thankfully, I didn’t have to do it alone because I found the community, and I have such a great support system with my family.”

He said he’s excited to see where life takes him next.

“I’ll do the best I can to help improve the quality of life for humanity and the limb loss and limb difference communities,” he said.

“I know my academic experience along with my life experience makes me better equipped to give back to the limb loss and limb difference communities and provide hope.”

He added: “To be a survivor is truly incredible, but the life I have today is invaluable.”