Wheelchair basketball player Gaz Choudhry was amputated when he was just 10 years old, after discovering he had osteosarcoma in his knee.
Since then, the now 39-year-old has achieved many achievements in his career, including winning four European Championships, a historic world title and two Paralympic bronze medals.
And, incredibly, he has starred in a TV series alongside Meryl Streep and Kit Harrington and in the hit theater about the Grenfell Tower disaster.
“I was super sporty before, just an active kid who couldn’t sit still,” said Choudhry, who has retired internationally but still plays for the London Titans.
“After the disability, I’m really lucky about my family … they don’t limit me. They still allow me to be brave and they support me.”
Awarded an MBE in 2021, Choudhry is one of the few athletes of South Asian background to have been at the Olympics or Paralympics for Team GB. And he attributes much of his success to luck.
He said: “I try and look at my experience of all the things I’m interested in. At the time, this raised obstacle was not something I had to overcome.
“I have a single mother. It is difficult to get to and from training and all that. And there are these extraordinary people, who through their generosity, solve systemic problems that would stop me from accessing sports”.
As a youngster, his inspiration was Joe Jayaratne, one of the first South Asian players to represent Great Britain.
“He was incredible, and I looked at him without realizing that I was looking for him because he was brown,” Choudhry said.
“It’s enough to have a natural role model who lifts my spirits in a way that doesn’t allow me to fall.”
Born in Karachi before moving to Ealing at 10, it was the wheelchair basketball roadshow that made Choudhry fall in love.
He said: “It gives me freedom and a dimension of movement… I love sitting on the couch and being free again.
“I’m super active. I ran, cycled and did all different sports. After I lost my leg, there was this door that was closed from the freedom of movement. And it was completely given back to me, which is quite a paradox really.”
However, Choudhry now has a new passion for something he never expected.
“I have always been interested in the story but never acted as much. We are preparing for the Tokyo Games and are in the camp of this strict lock,” Explains Choudhry from the moment that changed his life.
“To this day, I can’t remember who sent me the tape, but I did one because I thought it would be cool to do it one evening!”
What the basketball player didn’t know was that he had auditioned for and landed a role on a TV show called Extrapolations, a series about climate change with an A-list cast.
He said: “It made me discover another passion that I didn’t think I had. I tried to apply the things that made me successful as an athlete to prepare, but the most interesting thing is the difference.”
Last year, the Paralympian performed for the first time at the National Theater in London, it was called Grenfell: In the Word of Survival and he believed it was one of the most important things he would do in his life.
He added: “It was an incredible experience. Being able to give voice to the people of Grenfell and talk about such an absolute tragedy was powerful and meaningful.
“I talk about sports as salvation, but I feel that storytelling and acting are redemption. There is nothing that can be overcome. And I like the difference.”
South Asian Heritage Month runs from July 18 to August 17 this year. The Sky Sports News series ‘Free to be Me’ features individual narratives and a range of experiences from South Asian heritage.