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Video: Returning to riding after losing an arm

Jan 15, 2019

November 18, 2006. A young motocross racer, Kiana Clay, has just jumped across the finish line when another racer lands on her neck. All feeling in her right arm is gone, and one wrong movement could end her life.

A paramedic gets her in a neck brace, and she's rushed to the hospital. Kiana’s spinal cord sustained a life-threatening injury, and her right arm would maybe regain some function with intensive rehabilitation. Just months later, a second accident involving a drunk driver obliterated all of her progress and any chance of recovery for her once-dominant arm.

For most of us, this would be the end of a riding career. Not for Kiana, despite her doctor’s insistence that she’d never ride again.

Seven years later, Kiana learned to ride with a left-side throttle on a KX110. She was back to riding, and even racing. She wasn’t placing last, either. Driven by a passion for riding and racing, Kiana moved to a larger bike and more track time as her skills and confidence grew. She went on to compete through Moto Sport Adaptive, placing third in the 2015 upper-limitations championship. 

Through Adaptive Action Sports, Kiana Clay is training to compete with the U.S. snowboarding team at the 2020 Paralympics. “I can sit here and think about how much my life sucks with one arm, or I can get out there and still be happy that I have two legs, and I still have one arm, and I have a heart that’s beating, and I have a brain that works perfectly... This isn’t gonna stop me from what I want to do. If I wanna go ride a dirt bike, I’m gonna do that.”

Keep doing it, Kiana. Big thanks to Transworld Motocross for sharing her story.

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