Meet the breakdancer born without limbs who is proving anything is possible

Abandoned at birth because of his condition, Gabe Adams has not let this stop him from a life of independence and a career as a motivational speaker.

From orphan to orator: Gabe Adams is ‘Limbitless’ not limbless

Gabe Adams was born in Brazil without any arms or legs. As an infant, he was abandoned by his mother and ended up at an orphanage. Fast forward several years, and this remarkable young man has become an inspiration to everyone he meets.

“The one thing that I have taught myself… is that life is only hard when you make it hard,”

Gabriel “Gabe” Noah Adams was born born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with Hanhart syndrome, a rare medical condition characterised by underdeveloped limbs, mouth and jaw. 

In Gabe’s case, none of his limbs grew at all. Gabe was adopted from an orphanage by American parents Janelle and Ron Adams, and was taken to the US as a baby, growing up with 13 siblings in Kaysville, Utah.

At school Gabe, now 19, tried out for the dance team as a way of making friends – discovering he could use his limbless body to his advantage in the art of break dancing. 

After graduating from high school he has continued to prove his independence, moving out of the family home and embarking on a career as a motivational speaker. 

Gabe said: ‘I think one of the common questions that I get would be, “is your life hard? Do you wish you had limbs?” And I guess my response would be, no my life isn’t hard.’

‘The one thing that I have taught myself, and others, is that life is only hard when you make it hard and if I am gonna make it hard then that is on me. 

But if I am gonna make it easier then it is going to be way easier to live. ‘Do I ever wish I had limbs? Of course. But I know that I don’t have arms and legs for a reason so I am just gonna live my life as I can.’

Source: Metro.co.uk

Gabe’s parents were determined that their son would be independent… and he is!

From a young age, Gabe started using a wheelchair, but his parents were determined that their son would be as independent as possible. 

Dad, Ron, said: ‘The biggest concern as a parent obviously was how we raise a son with no arms, no legs, to be independent. That was our biggest concern. Some day, he is going to be more on his own. He is going to want to do things on his own.

‘As parents sometimes you even use tough love but we worked hard with Gabe to help him overcome different challenges, to help him to be independent and that of course resolved in a lot of struggles, lot of tears on both sides.’ 

At school Gabe would wedge a pencil or pen between his shoulder and cheek to write in class. He learned  to shower and wash his hair by squeezing the shampoo onto the shower wall then rubbing his head against it, and he texts using the tip of his top lip lightly pressing on the phone screen. 

Gabe said: ‘I hated my parents for making me go through all that hard work, but now I look at them and celebrate that they pushed me to be independent and be the person that they knew I could be.’

Source: Metro.co.uk

The takeaway message: work with what you have and take pride in your accomplishments

“I have been able to accomplish so much and I think it is funny when people say, do you wish you had prosthetics, and my answer is always, no, because I have already come so far in my independence without them that I wouldn’t want them now and have to re-learn everything just for those prosthetics. I like my body the way it is and I am proud of what It is capable of doing.” —Gabe Adams 

Follow Gabe on Facebook and Instagram 

Source: Metro.co.uk