Man with amelia swims triathlon

Amelia [a (without)+ melos (limb)] is a birth defect which at its most severe results in the absence of arms and legs, and which has resulted in a variety of human interest stories over the years that illustrate the capabilities of the human body and spirit, and which should be read or viewed by anyone feeling sorry for their own problems.

Craig Dietz has amelia, but has achieved a successful professional career and a full life, including a variety of sports activities. Last week he successfully completed the swimming leg of the Pittsburgh Triathlon.

In the end, he finished 275th out of 308 participants.

"To think that I was ahead of 35 people just blew my mind," said Dietz. "I would have been happy with 307th, beating one. Not being the last person out of the water would have been a good day for me."

Dietz also doesn't think of himself as an inspiration.

"I didn't do the race for that, my reason for the race were quite selfish -- to challenge myself," said Dietz. "I was there on Sunday for the same reason as all the other persons… to challenge myself and to prove something to my self. I never set out to prove anything to anybody else and I think people do what they have to do to survive in life. You overcome whatever you're faced with and that's all I think that I've done."

The story at the link includes a video which I can't embed here, but which is certainly worth viewing.