#61 - Jorge Sanchez: Amputee’s Journey to Olympic Gold

It’s crazy witnessing the universe align when it’s pushing you to meet someone. A few friends had sent me Jorge Sanchez’s profile saying I needed to have him on the podcast. Then a week later at a Warriors game, I got to meet him and understood why he needed to be on the show.

Jorge is a professional wheelchair basketball player and a part of the Dub nation! At the age of 8, Jorge was diagnosed with Osteogenic Sarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer that caused him to have his leg amputated. Through the countless surgeries and navigating this new way of life, Jorge was approached by someone in Costco who told him to try out wheelchair basketball. Years later, he’s now an Olympic Gold Medalist!

Today we dive deep into Jorge’s journey. We cover;

What it means to be a Warriors fan right now and the inspiration he gets from all the players on the team.
His childhood before getting diagnosed with Osteogenic Sarcoma, then how his parents let him decide if he wanted to keep his leg or not, all before he was 10 years old.
How even after surgery, Jorge had to fight for his life after falling into a coma for 2 months.
The rebuild at such a young age where he struggled to not care what others had to say about him, and the stares he got that made him call out to God asking, “why me?” Then the moment his aunt helped him embrace his differences.
Getting cut 3 different times from the Olympic basketball team, loosing against Great Britain in one of the biggest wheelchair basketball games, then coming out on top at the 2020 Olympic Games and receiving his first gold medal.
Wanting to be the Steph Curry of Wheelchair Basketball and the hard work he’s doing to get to that position.
Meeting his wife and how he thought he could never be in a relationship due to his disability.
Then what people can do as well as what companies and organizations can do to be more disability accessible.

I am so inspired by Jorge, and his story even made me emotional at some points. Jorge is a true beast, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for him and the lengths he’s going to go.

Want to keep up with Jorge? Follow him on Instagram and Twitter!

Want to learn more about the organization, BORP that Jorge talked about? Click here.

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