Nampa Woman Overcomes Motorcycle Accident to Become Paralympian
Sam Tucker of Nampa Idaho has overcome a traumatic motorcycle accident to become part of the U.S. Paralympic team competing in archery. In 2010, Sam lost her arm in a horrific motorcycle accident, but managed to keep her attitude positive. “I came out of the hospital with a really, really good attitude that my life is going to be better,” she said. She was right. While working at a prosthetic’s office in California she came across a patient that would forever change her life. “One of his patients rolled in in a wheelchair and we got to talking. He asked me if I ever shot.” This man just happened to be Paralympian gold medalist archer Jeff Fabry. Sam was hooked, and started training using her adaptive equipment. Soon, she was being invited to clinics around the country by the U.S. Para-Archery Team, where she came in first at the Paralympic trials. Sam will be competing with the Paralympics team in Rio, thanks to a chance meeting with the gold medalist who is now her teammate. “Getting on that international scene and shooting for my nation in the Paralympics is a dream come true,” Sam said in an interview. “And it’s just the start, because the neat thing is, when I come back then I get to have a broader platform to tell people ‘hey guess what, you can do this’.” Sam is an inspiration to us all.
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