ANYTHING YOU CAN DO ...

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WILLIE STEWART
46, Kayaking & Mountain Biking

While working construction in 1980, Stewart lost his left hand in an industrial-fan accident. He initially tried using a standard-issue prosthetic arm with a hook hand, but gave up after an intimate moment on a date turned awkward. Being one-armed, though, didn't slow him down: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Stewart helped DC's Washington Rugby Football Club go to three national title tournaments, carrying the ball between chin and shoulder as he fended off opponents with his right arm; in 2002, he won a silver medal in the Nordic ski relay at the Paralympic Games; and two years ago, after helping to develop a limb with a supple wrist that could hold an oar, he became the first amputee to kayak the Grand Canyon rapids. Now an operations and security director at California's Loma Linda University, Stewart helped develop a bike arm with a rigid wrist that rotates when attached to a handlebar. It's so good that Stewart can ride using just the metal limb, giving his right arm a long-needed rest.
Photographs by Carlos Serrao