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Kanya is living proof that NOTHING can stop you when you work hard towards your dreams! 🤩
Kanya Sesser is a 31-year-old paralympic athlete and surfer, Hollywood actress AND runway model...
Honestly, what CAN'T she do?!
Well, she is now also a world record holder, after successfully completing the longest handstand on a skateboard (LA3) – an impressive feat where she supported herself on her hands atop her board for a whopping 19.65 seconds!
So how does she feel after her record-breaking achievement?
“I think it’s one of the life-changing career moments that have happened to me,” she told us.
“It’s so incredible to me to make history for others to see. I have made an impact on others for the next generations to come!”
Kanya was born without legs and had a rough start in life.
When she was only a baby, she was found at the side of the road in Thailand by a woman who heard her crying and took her to the hospital.
There, a nurse (affectionately dubbed ‘Nurse Mae Chan’) and the hospital staff took care of her for the first 5 years of her life.
Thankfully, she was then adopted by an American family and she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she grew up with her mum, dad and 2 older brothers! 😍
Kanya is thankful to her mum and all the female Thai nurses who helped her become the strong independent woman she is today. 💪
Kanya remembers being a “wild child”: outgoing and determined, she loved to play with her friends in the neighbourhood, and she even became a top cheerleader!
In high school, she also booked her first modelling job. 😎
“I was one of the popular kids and always had a fascination with living life on the edge and the thrill of it all,” she says.
She also tried lots of adaptive sports: wheelchair racing, wheelchair rugby, swimming and sledge hockey to name but a few. 🏊♀️
And that's how she discovered skateboarding, when she noticed the board that one of her friends had borrowed from her brother. She decided that she wanted to give it a go, and immediately fell in love with the... thrill of the ride! 🛹
“My first attempt was riding down the hill by my house and it was the best feeling ever!”
What is your favourite sport?
Fast forward a few years, Kanya made history in skateboarding by achieving never-seen-before results: a string of successes that saw her invited to the X Games in 2019!
She loves the sense of community that surrounds the sport:
“I have connections with other skaters and adaptive competitions and athletes to skate with, but also build a great community so we can keep the adaptive skate going throughout other generations.”
In sports and in life, it's important to support each other and have each other's backs. 🙏
Being a professional athlete is not so easy - Kanya skates every single day!
Together with hard work, having fun and staying positive are super important for her.
She also says that “unconditional self-confidence” was key to her success!
We couldn't agree more. ❤️
Congratulations Kanya, you are Officially Amazing!