By CHRIS SULLIVAN
KIRO Radio

Despite losing the use of his legs 11-years ago, this Spokane native found a way to deal with his disability with skis.

Sean Halsted was working on an Air Force career in 1998 when he found himself dangling out of a helicopter during a search and rescue training exercise. "I fell about 40 feet, free fall and hit the ground, shattered a vertebrae, damaged my spine."

A year of rehab later, Halsted was looking for a new direction without his legs. He was looking for an outlet. He found cross-country skiing in 2001.

"I was a downhill skier before, but downhill skiing wasn't really working for me in a sit-ski. I had cross-country skied before but that was something you did when the snow wasn't that good for downhill," said Halsted.

But he fell in love with cross-country and now he's qualified for his first Paralympics Games in that sit-ski. "Your poles are you wheels, so it's the opposite motion of a wheelchair. Your wheelchair, you're pushing your wheels forward. The poling in skiing, you're pulling the opposite way."

The 39-year-old father of three is on a mission to show others that having a physical disability doesn't mean you can't enjoy sports.

"I didn't know what was possible. I thought my life was going to be Nintendo, computers, internet, and that sort of thing. When I found out that there were people who were actually exerting themselves, getting their heart rate up, that sort of thing, I thought 'That's cool.'"

This isn't an everybody gets a participation ribbon competition, either. This is the real deal. "Finding out that it wasn't just charity, that you're actually competing, it was like 'Wow, I have to be a part of this.'"

Halsted and the rest of the U.S. paralympic team hit Vancouver in March.

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