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Walking on the prosthesis works sometimes this way, sometimes like that.

If the stumps want, it works.

But they are still a bit headstrong ”, says Amalia Sedlmayr during the video interview.

The 29-year-old laughs into the camera of her laptop.

A few months after the operation, the stumps on the lower legs are sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner.

Sometimes she needs three pairs of socks so that the prostheses fit, sometimes one pair is enough.

There are days when she can run for half an hour without support or help.

Despite this progress - she would like to be further.

Sedlmayr finally wants to get back in the boat and row.

Get out on the water and see how it works with the prostheses in the boat.

After all, she has big goals.

“I want to be at the Paralympics in Tokyo this summer,” she says.

One wonders where it gets this energy from.

Because the student at the Sport University in Cologne has gone through a path of suffering that can probably also rob a person of all the strength that is in them.

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Sedlmayr was in her early twenties when she moved to Heidelberg.

She studied translation studies and even took double semesters to advance faster.

She had clear ideas about her life.

She wanted to become an interpreter, work as a simultaneous translator.

She was also an ambitious triathlete.

“Back then I set up my first apartment of my own.

And because I like the water so much, there were also a lot of people who had to do with the sea, ”she says.

One of these decorative items was a metal fish that she had bought at the flea market.

It has to go into the water, she thought, and put it in a water carafe, from which she drank regularly.

Odyssey to the Doctors

What she didn't know: the fish contained lead.

He gave that to the water.

So the fish slowly poisoned Sedlmayr's body.

The lead spread inside her, damaging bones, muscles, organs and nerves.

Her legs became weaker, she had spastic paralysis and extremely lost weight.

The young student was in constant pain and could no longer concentrate.

In addition, there were disturbances in speaking, she could no longer find the right words.

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An odyssey began to various doctors who treated their symptoms, but made no headway in their search for the cause of this strange clinical picture.

It took almost three years for lead poisoning to be determined.

A detox was initiated immediately.

The lead was slowly removed from her body, but the spastic paralysis remained.

With serious consequences.

Not just for her feet, which were constantly aching.

After talking to her lecturers, she came to the conclusion that she had to finish her studies.

“I couldn't keep up with the language quickly enough and I still had difficulty finding words.

This course no longer made sense, ”she says.

From then on, Sedlmayr started her own rehab program - in sports.

And she reoriented herself professionally.

Sedlmayr passed the entrance exam at the German Sport University in Cologne, where she is studying sport and performance.

Later, as a trainer, she would like to pass on her experiences to other athletes with disabilities.

During this time she swam a lot.

In the water she could forget the pain.

It was more by chance that the para-athlete Markus Rehm discovered her for rowing.

Rehm works as an orthopedic technician in the medical supply store in which Sedlmayr also had its support splints made at the time.

Rehm told her that a friend was still looking for an athlete for a foursome in para-rowing.

“I then just tried a rowing ergometer in the club cellar and made a video recording of it.

Then I was invited to Frankfurt by the national coach, ”she says.

There she took part in an ergometer test at her own request, which is actually only intended for squad athletes.

Everyone advised her against preparing for this test, they said.

Sedlmayr persisted, she completed the test without preparation, “out of the cold pants”, as she says, “I love the challenge”.

In the end, she was only a few seconds short of the squad norm.

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“Amalia had very good values ​​on the ergometer.

You could see early on that it has great potential, ”says her rowing coach Ralf Müller from RTHC Bayer Leverkusen.

He was preparing her to get on the real boat.

Because rowing on the ergometer is something completely different from rowing on the water.

The switch worked well.

Sedlmayr starts in the PR2 class in mixed double sculls with a male partner in the boat.

Her feet are fixed when rowing.

There is no rolling seat that moves back and forth.

All the power comes from the upper body alone.

“Amalia has developed very well, she is one of the best in her class in Germany.

She quickly qualified for participation in international championships, ”says coach Müller.

The Paralympics became their new destination.

Another decision matured in her.

"After talking to a few doctors, it was clear that my feet had to be operated on in order to regain my quality of life," says Sedlmayr.

That meant: amputation of both feet.

Originally, the intervention should take place after the Paralympic Games this summer.

But they have been postponed to 2021.

Because her suffering was so great and she could hardly sleep at night because of the pain, Sedlmayr decided not to wait any longer.

She had an operation in the summer.

Of course, she also had doubts as to whether this was the right step, she says.

But she didn't see a real alternative either.

Barefoot one last time

Before the operation, Sedlmayr said goodbye to her feet.

“You have carried me through life for many years and made a lot possible for me.

I am very grateful for that, ”she says.

She went to the sea with friends to feel the sand between her toes again.

She ran barefoot through the grass.

She went to a kart track to really give it another go.

Sedlmayr tells all of this without bitterness.

She is looking forward to her next visit to the sea, she says, then let the sand trickle through her fingers.

She doesn't quarrel or think about what would have happened if she hadn't let the fish swim in the carafe.

“Sure, some doors have been slammed for me because of my poisoning.

But new ones have also opened up - and I want to go through them now, ”she says.

At the moment, her leg stumps are setting the pace and rhythm.

Your ambition actually wants to make it faster.

But her trainer and the physiotherapist put the brakes on.

“The first thing in training is to regain stability and strength in the upper body and arms,” says coach Ralf Müller.

At the beginning of next year at the earliest, it should go back to the rowing boat.

The healing is going well, says Sedlmayr.

At the moment she is also working in a rehabilitation clinic on “getting used to my new body”.

The operation has already brought success: Her old pain also disappeared with her feet.

“It's like winning the lottery.

A few weeks after the procedure, I slept for eight hours for the first time in years.

I can walk and I have less and less pain - the operation has been worth it, ”she says.

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Sedlmayr now hopes that she will soon be able to do without the wheelchair entirely and instead walk on two legs with prostheses.

At the end of the video call, she holds her two “new feet” in front of the camera on her laptop.

The prostheses are only a few days old, they are in sports shoes.

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.

We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.

Source: WELT AM SONNTAG