I Lost My Legs In A Bomb Explosion | SHAKE MY BEAUTY

I lost my legs when I was 16 months old and a bomb explosion in Vietnam all the damage was done to my legs I was adopted when Islands 20 months old it does hit me once in a while I wake up sometimes I'm like well I don't publicly growing up we had a huge pool in our backyard I just really grew up in the water I've been swimming for seven years I'm competing for Team USA like that's a really big privilege to have to have this big family and I get to travel all over the world and I see how blessed I am to have all that [Music] usually at the end of the day I am really ready to take off my legs they're always really sore like really behind my knees a lot I think it's just because they rub their and then kind of all the tops of my leg he's kind of like worth most of the pressure is right there my name is Haven Shepard and I'm 17 years old I lost my legs when I was 16 months old in a bomb explosion in Vietnam what I was told my parents who had me had an affair and had me so in Vietnam women can't divorce husbands so they thought the only way they thought they could be together was to commit a family suicide and they strap bombs onto themselves and held me and all the damage was done to my legs obviously and then I survived I was adopted when I was 20 months old I was the fifth girl and thus have a child so I had a bunch of extra Mama's around I have a friend that has a foundation her grandparents had asked if they could go into their handicap shelter because they were too poor to take care of her our friend said hey do you want to go along with us on this trip and so we went with them to bring her back on a medical visa and while we were there she convinced us that we were her parents you have all these preconceptions of what a special-needs child with a physical handicap would mean and you know she's run around on her knees she's running around you know she's putting our flip-flops on her little stumps and you know just making us laugh and we're like we can do this I just never really wasn't secure about not having like just like and I think it's because my mom really dressed it up like how attractive it was to not have legs yes it's really hard not having legs you know I'm I get tired easy but I just don't really understand the why I need to not like not having like so or like why I was insecure about not having legs it just hit me once in a while I wake up sometimes I'm like that's we had a huge field right in the backyard of our house and so I learned how to ride your bike and I just remember a lot of my memories were outside nothing really slowed me down the thing is about my childhood being the seventh I was basically raised in gymnasiums and all my sisters were in track in college most of my siblings were collegiate athletes so there was no adaptive sports for me to look at you know we had a huge pool and I just really grew up in the water like my mom was like why don't you try swimming and I was like no like so I'm rates low means a weird sport like the guys were speedos that's gross my mom was like you've been swimming all summer so that you were fine you want job so I tried it and I loved it I spent a week in Tulsa and with my uncle who is a swim coach and he taught me all the strokes and after that we went straight to Colorado Springs to the Olympic Training Center for my very first swim meet ever I've been swimming for seven years and never looked back [Music] I'm competing for Team USA like that's a really big privilege to have before quarantine I was from seven days a week and then go home rest for a little bit go to CrossFit at 9:30 get down at 11:30 then have the rest of the day - like just catch up on schoolwork rest take ice baths 2020 Tokyo was really the end goal like I thought this year was a year I need the hit right away because I'm 17 I've been to multiple countries by myself now competing so I was I really felt like I was ready to go I was in the best shape of my life and you know that all came down when covin 19 hit I was glad and cancel it but they just pushed it at yet another year I'm the most proud of the fact that she can take she can get out in front of a stadium of people in a swimsuit and she can take her legs off in front of everyone and she can be on those blocks with all the able-bodied kids and girls being comfortable with who she is that has been my passion as a mother for all my kids she always knew she want to be an athlete because that's kind of how our family was everyone wasn't athlete but she definitely fits right in there with the rest of us even though Havens younger than me I definitely look up to her in a lot of areas in life and I think she's always teaching us things and whether it's with excuses or with it's dedication or hard work if I had legs my life would be very different I would still be in Vietnam and won't have the life I would have here now like I'm very blessed to have the life I live I see that as a really big pleasure I have this big family and I get to travel all over the world and I see that how blessed I am to have all that just because I don't have like [Music] you

Channel: truly

Views: 1,189,291

Rating: 4.9625812 out of 5

Keywords: amazing stories, amazing story, barcroft tv, barcroft, documentary, real life, 2020, Truly, 246255, June 2020, shake my beauty, Haven Shepherd, Missouri, paralympics, amputee, swimming, swimmer, paralympic swimmer, Tokyo Paralympics, prosthetic legs, missouri, prosthetics, athlete

Id: n9kAb8U5Ics

Length: 6min 52sec (412 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 24 2020