On October 19, 2023, Amputee Blade Runners honors two outstanding athletes, Amaris Vazquez and Jacky Hunt Broersma. ABR athletes have overcome limb loss primarily due to trauma, cancer, infection, and congenital conditions and many, such as Amaris and Jacky, have become internationally competitive in their sport. Running legs are generally deemed a luxury and not covered by most insurance plans. ABR is a prosthetics nonprofit that strives to help lower limb different athletes of all ages reimagine what is possible in sports and in life by providing free prosthetic equipment, education, and empowerment.
Amaris Vazquez
After consistently training and practicing throughout her elementary and highschool sports career, Amaris Vazquez now trains for the 2024 Paralympics. Born in Puerto Rico, Amaris was born with a club foot. Her family moved to the United States, where she would be provided with the best medical care. At one year old, Amaris had her right foot amputated. Later on in life, Amaris joined the Disabled Athlete Sports Association (DASA) and participated in swim and track and field. Amaris has enjoyed competing against those like her and is trying to accomplish her goal by competing for Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paralympics. Amaris started getting her walking and running legs at ABR in 2017, which has helped improve her athletic abilities in competitions.
Amaris' mother, Siomari Collazo, said, “I think that when Amaris was born, we set pretty high goals. We said that she would have the life that she wanted to have. That nothing was going to stop her. We strongly believe that she has a big purpose, that God gave her to us with that purpose, and I think she has been fulfilling that purpose. By sharing her story, by doing things that will put her in front of people so that others can see.”
Jacky Hunt Broersma broke a Guinness World Record in 2022 by running 104 marathons in 104 days. During that time, she raised money for Amputee Blade Runners. Jacky lost her leg below the knee to cancer in 2002. In 2016, Jacky started running, and everything changed. "Throughout her time running, she became an ultrarunner, the Road Runner Club of America Road Runner of the Year, WRAL Athlete of the Year, Strong Fitness Magazine Women to Watch in 2021, and she set a world record for the first amputee to run 100 miles on a treadmill (23hrs & 38 min)." Recently, she has started a new challenge by running 13.1 miles a day for 250 days. Each day, Jacky dedicates her run to someone who has survived cancer, is currently fighting cancer, or has lost their life to cancer by wearing a racing bib with the individual's name on it.
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