Worth admiring a group made up of people with disabilities, recently managed to climb to the highest point in the Republic of Panama; the summit of Volcán Barú in the province of Chiriquí.
The members of this group, called PTY Amputees, are characterized by performing multiple challenges in different scenarios, demonstrating every day that there are no limitations or obstacles to achieving their goals.
“The ascent took us about 13 hours, 5 of which were in heavy rain,” said Jorge Salgado, one of the members.
The athletes of this Panamanian group were represented by Luis Espinoza, a native of San Miguelito; Jorge Salgado, from West Panama and Héctor Rodríguez, from North Panama.
“Our group is one of challenges and of breaking paradigms, many people say, they will not be able to, they will not endure, that is difficult, and that is where each of the members proves the opposite and we achieve the objectives that we set for ourselves”, explained Luis Espinoza .
They exhort the other adventurers or those who are interested in climbing the Barú Volcano to prepare and train hard, “a lot of treadmill to strengthen the legs and if possible send the briefcases forward, in our case each one carries their luggage and that it makes it more difficult as the hours go by,” says Héctor Rodríguez.
The group emerged in 2017, when they began to visit hospitals with people who, due to some life situation, had suffered an accident and were left with an amputation of lower or upper limbs or reduced mobility.
These young people provide guidance on different topics regarding what their recovery will be and the process they will have to go through; they give motivational talks in companies and curiously, most of the members of this organization are athletes who represent the national tricolor at a local and international level.
Before closing the interview, by telephone, they recalled that if they have a disability they can do it, they think of everything that can be achieved with faith, dedication, work and self-confidence.
