I'm A Pro Skater Despite Having No Legs!

Name: I'm A Pro Skater Despite Having No Legs!
Uploaded: 2024-07-23T15:50:21+00:00
Duration: 8 min 18 s
Description: Paralympic athlete and surfer, Hollywood actress and runway model, 31-year-old Kanya is a force to be reckoned with, and can now add a world record title to her long list of triumphs. She has successfully completed the longest Handstand on a Skateboard (LA3) – an impressive feat that saw her supporting herself on her hands atop her board for a whopping 19.65 sec.

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When I'm on a skateboard, I don't feel trapped
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I feel free, and I live my life through my skateboard. Feels like it's a part of me
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It's part of my soul. My story is so incredible, and I feel like it's a very special part of me
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that characterized me of who I am today. I was found on the side of the road in Pakchong, Thailand
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which is two hours north of Bangkok. Down the street from a woman's house
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they heard a baby cry, and they're wondering, where is this crying coming from
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They got a flashlight, and they came up to hear where the sound was coming from
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and I was found literally on the side of the road with all these trees and all these tall grasses
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and you probably could never find me if I didn't cry. There was dirt on my face
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I had mosquito bites, so they kind of guessed I was there for probably a day
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We don't know who my birth parents is. There's no note. There's no nothing
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While they called the Pakchong Police Department, they was about to give me a bath
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and she was feeling me, and she's like, something feels different. I was kind of small for my age, too
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so it was kind of like, what is going on? And they unwrapped me
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and they found out that I had no legs, and they looked, and there's no indication of amputation, which is good
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That means I wasn't kidnapped from my family, from gangsters out there
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and put them into who knows, you know? And that happens a lot in those countries
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but I was just born this way. I live with a two-older couple
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and they pretty much took care of me till I was adopted of May 1998
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through Jane and David Sessor, who are my parents, loving parents now
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that adopted me, came here to America when I was just five years old
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and was raised and living in Portland, Oregon, and who would have thought
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just because you come from a family that doesn't want you doesn't mean there's another family
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that would love to show you what family and love is, and even though they're not blood, they show you love
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My mom told me that ever since I was younger, she was like, you know, you're so hyper
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We had to get you back inside. You sneak out through the window as a kid
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and I was like, peace out, but my dad was all like, we just kind of let you
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and they will find you later, but we would hear your wheelchair or skateboard
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I remember going through the patio. I never come home much. I was always outside
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I just want to do everything outside, and my mom was like, okay, we need to put her in sports
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She kind of connected me to Shredders Hospital and Oregon Adaptive Sports
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events and people that they know, track racing, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis
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and to be honest, I was really good at it. I got first place in the 100 meters, 200 meters
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women's relay, and second place, 3K, and I was the third fastest woman in the world
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in 2012 and 2011. I almost made it to London, but I didn't, unfortunately
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because I got one second off of the 100 meters. In life, we grasp and learn new things
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and we discover new things. I feel like it's the genetics in me, how I'm stubborn
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how I could do things on my own, how I do not like help, and I was very serious about that
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and I feel like it just has to deal with who I am as a person. I know what's right for myself, and I feel like
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if I feel comfortable, I do things for myself, and I think I kind of do it naturally
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When I was younger, I just kind of walk on my hands, walk upstairs on myself
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I climb on shelves to get to the ice, and I climb with my hands like a monkey
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and I adapt that through my own self because I think it has to deal with this is all I know
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This is what I have, and I have to go through it
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on my own ways. Going through obstacles and going through things on my own personally kind of gained my strong mentality
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to have a big perspective on life, and I was just like, hey, no legs, no limits
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and that's my motto is no legs, no limits because I saw that, that there's no limitations
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to anything of what I do, whether you have legs or you don't have legs
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I mean, I feel like we all have some type of disability in some ways, whether it's mental or physical
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but we all have challenges. Pretty much what it does is that's the engine
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when you go down, and then you push down for brakes. So this is all a 90-degree angle push-pull hand control
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and I just drive like this. I got invited to the X Games back in 2019
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and it was just so incredible because my coach at the time for skateboarding
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gathered up all the adaptive skate, female and male, adaptive skaters, blind, amputees, all that
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and we kind of showed up at the X Games and showed them that, yo, we can skate
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and kind of did a whole skateboarding demo plus competition, and it was just so incredible
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to just be there and experience everything and got to skate the street course
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and got to skate the bowl course, which is really gnarly. When I'm on a skateboard, I don't feel trapped
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I feel free, and I live my life through my skateboard because skateboarding and the skateboard
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is just part of me. It's like part of my legs, and I think that's so incredible
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that I can just have something to just move around, but also feel so good when I just skate
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The wind is coming through my hair. I'm vibing it. It just feels like it's a part of me
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It's part of my soul. Everywhere I go or skating in skate parks
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I see a lot of kids, and they're kind of curious. Like, I had a kid come up to me today
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How do you skate without legs? And, you know, and I tell them I skate with my hands
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and just kind of educate them on how someone without legs can skate with their hands
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and do tricks, and they get very impressed by that. How I achieved the handstands
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actually, I was just been skating ever since I was like nine years old
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One day, just like, hey, let me see if I can just, like, balance myself on a skateboard
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but lift my body up, and I'm half a body anyway, and just, like, lift myself up, and I'm light
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So I can just do it and just go with it and flow with the board
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I was, like, practicing all month. I already know I got it because when you've done it
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most of your life anyways, and you have done it in many different videos
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and that's, like, your signature trick or move, it just naturally comes to me
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Oh my gosh, that was awesome! I love how much followers I have
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and I really respect all my fans and people, you know, that follow me, and I appreciate it
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but I'm not really about, like, that fame life and all that, but I love it, you know
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But I'm not like, oh, wow, look at me, you know? But I feel like everywhere that I go
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people come up to me and just be like, besides just skateboarding
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they're like, wow, aren't you, like, that chick that was in the Fear of the Walking Dead
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or The Walking Dead or this and that? I'm like, yeah, that's me, or like, and I don't think it's just about not having legs
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I think it also has to deal with who I am as a person and what you bring out to people
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and how you vibe and your reputation and your personality. You know, you show who you are, you show your aura
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and I think that gravitates towards people with anybody that has a high energy like myself
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I'm like an Energizer bunny. As much as I don't really care for the fame
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or how many followers, I feel like networking and social media really helped me
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along the way of who I am today. I'm so beyond stoked that I just achieved
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one of the biggest records ever, which is the Guinness World Records title
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which is the longest handstands on a board without legs. As a female woman, it just feels so beyond blessed
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and amazing. I'm so proud of myself. I'm so proud of my team
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I'm so proud of my team. I'm so proud of my team. I'm so proud of my team
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I'm so proud of my team

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I'm A Pro Skater Despite Having No Legs!