The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goals;
The tragedy of life lies in not having goals to reach for.
At 16, du Toit nearly qualified for the 2000 Sydney Games in three events. On Feb. 25, 2001, as she aimed for the 2004 Athens Olympics, du Toit left training one morning in Cape Town, headed for school on a motorbike, when she was struck by a car that pulled out of a parking lot.
"I've lost my leg, I've lost my leg," she began screaming.
Her left leg was still attached, but the bones were splintered, the muscles ruptured. "Burst like a tomato dropped to the ground," du Toit said.
Doctors considered harvesting muscle from her back and hips to try to refashion the leg. After a week, they surrendered to the inevitable. Du Toit's left leg was amputated at the knee.
Five months later, she jumped back in the pool. Her first workout exhausted her after 25 meters, but at least she was swimming again, more out of curiosity than determination.
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clipped from www.iht.com
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