Nothing can stop them
Young amputees and their families gather in Quebec City
10-year-old Nathan Chouinard may have only one left-hand and two right-hand fingers, but more will be needed to curb his ambitions. His dream ? "Play in the NHL"
The young hockey player has a rare genetic disease that also results in malformations on both feet. This did not prevent him from putting on his first skates at the age of three.
At the age of 10, he is now guarding goals for an atom-level team. "It's not because we have fewer fingers that we can not do anything," he says candidly when asked if he feels limited in one way or another.
Even "it's cooler, think the boy from Sherbrooke. I'm used to it, and it allows me to do more business than others. "
He was very jealous, he says, when his name came to the ears of a certain Carey Price, who then invited him to the ice at the Montreal Canadiens training center in 2016.
100 th anniversary
Little Nathan is one of the many success stories of the 14 young amputees who recently joined the large family of War Amps last weekend in Quebec City. A total of 90 families gathered at the hotel Le Concorde for an annual seminar.
Ariane Lajeunesse, 19, amputee in the right leg, acted as a "junior counselor".
To the new recruits of the association, she had a message to launch: "Nothing can stop us. Of course there are things that we will do differently, but we will always be able to do it. "
The event highlighted the 100 th anniversary of the association founded by veterans returning from the First World War.
THE WAR AMPS ASSOCIATION
- Founded in 1918 by veterans
- Does not receive any government subsidies
- More than 3300 financial aids granted for prostheses in 2016