Rudy Garcia-Tolson

Rudy running (http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=RUDY)

A hero to me is somebody who goes above and beyond. Also, a hero could be somebody who survives a deadly surgery. A hero could be an everyday person. It could be a simple man walking down the street and saving a cat that is stuck in a tree. It could be a firefighter saving little Katherine from a burning building. A hero can be an unselfish person. A hero is courageous.

Rudy Garcia-Tolson was born in Loma Linda, California in 1988. He was born with a cleft palate, webbed fingers and legs. He went through 15 surgeries to fix his body. Rudy used a wheel chair to get around. He finally got his legs amputated at age 5. He got prosthetic legs but he kept breaking them because he was determined to play like other children. He finally got new prosthetics that wouldn’t break. He became very athletic. Now he’s active in swimming, track and field, baseball, hockey, football, basketball, and skateboarding!

Rudy accomplished many things. If he can accomplish what he did, why can’t any ordinary person do the same things? Rudy used courage and faith to walk again and then he forced himself to run when he was only told to walk. Rudy never gave up, even when his prosthetics broke. Rudy is a very tough guy who goes above and beyond.

From the book Heroes trail, T.A. Barron mentions 5 different types of heroes. Rudy is a "Survivor Hero" because he lived through 15 surgeries. Any surgery can be life threatening. In those 15 surgeries, so many things could have gone wrong, or he could have just given up, but he didn’t. Rudy is a "Hero Within" because he worked through the struggles of being different and loosing his legs. He didn’t give up. He worked to become an excellent athlete.

Rudy has demonstrated many heroic qualities in his life. Rudy is a courageous young man. Every fight he’s had, from each surgery, to the choice to loose his legs, to choosing to be active, took courage. He also has faith. At first he was told he may never walk, but he had faith in himself that he would walk. Today his faith continues to push him to be the best athlete he can be. His fight to be active took a lot of perseverance. Each time he was given discouraging news he worked past it to achieve his goals. He wouldn’t have been able to achieve all that he has without hope. He had hope that one day he would be able to be outside of the hospitals and run and play like other children. Rudy has adapted to life without his lower legs. He has had to adapt to several types of prosthetics. Now he lives an active life because of his heroic beginnings.