American star Brenna Huckaby eyes fourth Paralympic gold medal in Milan after leg amputation at age 14
United States Paralympic snowboarder Brenna Huckaby is preparing for her third Paralympic Games.
Huckaby, 29, has had incredible success as she is a four-time Paralympic medalist, winning three gold medals and one bronze. She won two gold medals in her Paralympic debut in Pyeongchang in 2018 in banked slalom and snowboard cross.
In Beijing in 2022, she won gold in the banked slalom again, while earning bronze in the snowboard cross.
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However, Huckaby’s journey to success on the slopes has been one of triumph in the face of a lot of adversity.
At age 14, Huckaby was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and she had to have her right leg amputated. Her athletic career began as a competitive gymnast, but the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native turned to snowboarding after the amputation.
As Huckaby prepares to compete again in Italy, she said one of her favorite memories along the journey was crossing the finish line in 2018 and seeing her family.
"One of the biggest (memories) right now though is the 2018 Games — first gold and crossing the finish line and getting to hug my family. I am really looking forward to having a similar experience at (these) games knowing that my family will be there," Huckaby told Fox News Digital in a recent interview with Hershey’s, celebrating happiness as the real gold.
"Like, to me, I feel like we've already won just knowing that I get to share this experience with them. We weren't able to do that in China. So I'm very excited to be able to do that here."
In addition to being a four-time Paralympic medalist and five-time world champion gold medalist, Huckaby is also a mother of two. She gave birth to her daughter Lilah in 2016 and gave birth to her second daughter Sloan in 2020.
Huckaby said balancing being a mom while also snowboarding at an elite level and the training that entails can be challenging and takes a lot of self-compassion.
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"Balance is always so hard, I feel like. I don't know if that's even the right word for it because it's definitely uneven a lot of the time. But I think it's having, you know, a lot of compassion for yourself because you're not always going to get it right, but also, you know, recognizing, hey, I'm not always going to get this right. So, how can I take a step back, pause, see, where I'm needed right now, and then make those harder decisions of right now my focus is with my family, which means I can't put in that little extra time that maybe some of my competitors can," Huckaby said.
"And also when it's crunch time, knowing, okay, hey family, I love you so much, but right now I got to go focus on my sport. I think it's the hardest part is having to be your own boss to tell you what to do. I think it could be a lot easier to have somebody waving a finger and you're like, ‘Oh, sorry. I got to go, big boss is telling me.’ But having to be the, you know, the ‘bad guy’ in those situations of having to leave your family can be tough. So having a lot of self-compassion for yourself and knowing like you know you're doing the best you can um and that's the best you can do."
Huckaby said now that her kids are old enough to retain memories, with Lilah being 9 years old and Sloan being 5 years old, she hopes that they remember her journey, that they are worth putting the work in for when they bet on themselves.
"I think right now if my kids are nine and five, so they're older enough to kind of retain and see what I'm doing and and make some choices for themselves. I hope they see that like it's not always easy, but when we make the the choice to bet on ourselves, we're worth putting the work in for," Huckaby said.
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"We're worth taking that time. And it's not always motivating, and it's going to feel grindy, but in those moments, that's where you grow as a person and saying yes to yourself and betting on yourself. And I also they know that like sometimes I'm scared to drop into a course, and sometimes I'm scared to be next to the other riders, but that true bravery is doing things even though you're scared. And so I hope that they see that and gain are able to apply that and gain their own self-confidence."
Huckaby has said a "core focus" of hers has been to enjoy the process, because that is the only part of the journey that is guaranteed.
"I would say, over the last eight years of, you know, finding a way to enjoy the process because that's the only part that's guaranteed. We don't know if we're going to win gold. We don't know if we'll, you know, we don't even know if we'll make it to the game sometimes. And so, how can I make this process and this journey worth it?" Huckaby said.
"For me, it's taking a moment, a pause, even if it's just for 30 seconds, to appreciate how far I've come, and where I'm at. And a lot of the times I do that on the mountains, and I look out and I see the other peaks and the trees, and I'm able to remind myself like, yeah, things are good. So, it's just taking a tiny little pause and that's where happiness is found."
While being a mother who is training to be a world-class snowboarder, Huckaby also was on the front lines orchestrating an inclusivity campaign.
The Paralympic qualification guide excluded the lower limb LL1 category, and Huckaby took legal action to fight for her right to compete in medal events that are limited to less-impaired athletes.
Huckaby said that fighting for her right to compete was a hard time, but also a reminder that her journey is bigger than herself.
"That was a that was a hard time, it was really hard to find moments of happiness," Huckaby said with a smile. "But I think one of the things that I that really came out of that for me is I've always said it's way easier to fight for other people than it is myself. And that was one thing that was really hard because I felt like I was advocating for myself. But truly, what came out of that was a reminder that this has always been bigger than myself."
"It's about those kids and even adults that are going through limb loss and life-changing experiences. Like, they deserve to see themselves represented in every single scenario. And for me, seeing above the knee amputee women in snowboarding, that was life-changing for me. And so, how can we make sure that that continues so that we have future generations of people believing in themselves."
Huckaby was the first Paralympian to ever be on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which was another moment she said was bigger than herself.
"I would say similar (to fighting for her classification) for sure, I know this is bigger than me. And for me it I felt like I was doing it for the 14-year-old version of me who had no hair, had just lost her leg, and questioning whether or not I would ever be seen as beautiful, as lovable, as, worthy and yeah, it was scary. But I'm so glad that I did it," Huckaby said.
Huckaby said that representing the United States is a big role to fill and will do everything in her power to represent well.
The 29-year-old said that Hershey’s happiness as the real gold campaign stood out to her because the moments of happiness throughout the process are what matter most.
"When I had learned about the happiness is the real gold campaign, I just was immediately sold because That is something that I've been trying to really implement into my journey of like how can I make sure that you know at the end of the day win or lose everything has been worth it and for me it's been you know finding those moments of happiness and joy and also knowing that that's the true process that's the life that's lived throughout the journey and that's what's most important," Huckaby said.
Families play an essential role in every athlete’s journey, and in each moment throughout the process finding happiness in the grind is what endures.
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