People

Published on November 3, 2014 | by Cassandra Gagliardi     Photography by Glenn Pritchard

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Humber student set to play in the 2015 ParaPan Am Games

Andrew Tucker stares in the distance.Two years ago, a student at Humber College experienced the unthinkable. He experienced illness, resulting in the loss of his leg.

Andrew Tucker is an amputee. Although you would never guess he has experienced such a tragedy, the loss of his leg has changed his life in a way he would have never imagined. Tucker has experienced adversity, but he is aiming to inspire others by taking his tragedy and turning it into opportunity.

In 2012, Tucker experienced kidney failure which led to sepsis. He was able to receive a speedy recovery, however, his ankle was still swollen with too much dead tissue around it. “The doctor told me he had to amputate below my knee so gangrene wouldn’t poison my blood. He told me early April it had to be done. By May 9, 2012, it was done,” he says.

Tucker admits that he handled his amputation better than most people would have. “None of my new friends even knew I had an amputation. I didn’t let it bother me at the time and it has not changed me as a person,” he says.

Prior to the loss of his leg, Tucker was a student at Sheridan College studying general arts. He was working part time at a Canadian Tire in Brampton, Ont., where he lived, and enjoyed sports such as basketball and volleyball whenever he had spare time. Unfortunately, the loss of his leg resulted in dropping out of Sheridan and stopping sports for a while.

“Tucker is one of the strongest people I have ever met,” says Shelby Andrews, a coworker and close friend of Tucker. “He has overcome so many obstacles over the past couple of years. After everything, he is still one of the most confident, lively and most inspirational people I know.”

Tucker has now found a way of using his story to inspire others. Tucker has recently been given the opportunity to participate in the upcoming ParaPan Am Games. He has been recruited for the sitting volleyball team, representing Team Canada.

“It’s not everyday I can say that I’m going to represent the country at the next Olympic Games. I am going to cherish every single moment of it,” says Tucker.

Tucker was initially invited to this opportunity after he bumped into one of the team members on Canada’s National Sitting Volleyball Team. “I was in rehab and he told me to come out and practice with them. At that time, I wasn’t thinking about playing any sports, I just wanted to get out of rehab. I didn’t go [to the practice], and I didn’t hear from him again,” says Tucker.

However, that did not stop the opportunity from presenting itself again as Tucker’s friend bumped into the same team member while volunteering for Pan Am.  “She told him about my story and he told her to tell me to come out,” says Tucker. “This time, I did.”  Tucker has since been practicing with members of the sitting volleyball team for about three months now.

For Tucker, being involved in the ParaPan Am Games means he can represent the country that moulded him into who he is.

“Having a country supporting me is going to be the craziest feeling,” Tucker says of the upcoming games. “I am most looking forward to the opportunity to play volleyball on the world stage, and win.”

With the road to success clearly evident for Tucker, his involvement in the ParaPan Am Games goes beyond the opportunity to simply play for Team Canada. Tucker plans to inspire others who have gone through, or are going through, the same thing he has.

“I want people to know that it’s never the end. In the moment, you may feel that you’ll never be who you were … but in reality, that’s the furthest from the truth. In due time, you will come to realize that if you apply yourself and get the help you need, you can be the same, or an even better person than you used to be.”

With the games just eight months away, Tucker has been travelling around Canada meeting other participants in the ParaPan Am Games while maintaining school and steady work with Humber’s Student Athletic Association.

Do not miss your chance to support your fellow Humber Hawk, Andrew Tucker, in the ParaPan Am Games set to take place in Toronto this summer.


About the Author

Cassandra Gagliardi is a third year Media Studies student at the University of Guelph-Humber and the in-house host for Humber Hawks Athletics Varsity.



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