When Corbin Hart slipped at his job site a year, he lost his right leg and nearly his life, which was changed forever.
Since then, Hart has quietly gone about turning his life-shattering experience into the determination needed to get to the Olympics.
"I've lost a leg - that doesn't mean I've lost a life," he said.
"I can still carry on doing what I do - the new normal is probably better than what it used to be."
He was working in construction and cleaning up for the day at a work site when his leg became caught in machinery.
"I slipped over and ended up getting my knee stuck and getting my leg dragged back into the machine.
"It was a big crack, and a big crunch, and there was nothing left - my foot came out of my boot and I had skin up around my waist and i had a little knee cap and a bone."
He was alone on the job site, and could have easily bled to death, but managed to apply a tourniquet made from his t-shirt to his leg, and call 111 for help.
There were a few moments when he was almost prepared to give up.
"I did, I did for about four, five seconds ... you know, that's a big pill to swallow, to just give up," he said.
"I'm not like that. I thought, nah, I can't - I need to do what I can do to keep myself here."
He spent a week in hospital coming to terms with his new self.
"I spoke to my psychologist at the time, and he said, if you died there, would you be happy with the legacy that you left?
"I said, in a way, yes, and in a way, no. The only thing I did was just work - just working the whole teen years to try to get ahead.
"He said, 'what would make you happy now?' and I said, like, a sport, ya know? Maybe try to get as far as I can go."
He thought of his long-time friend Caitlin Ryan, an Olympic kayaker, and she encouraged him to get into kayaking. His courage got him the rest of the way.
"I remember saying to him 'be prepared - you'll get wet - you'll fall in!' and he got in on the first day, and he took off, and I was like ... no one's done this ... and he's got one leg," Ryan said.
Just nine months after taking to the water, Hart lined up his first ever competition, and was the only para paddler in the K1 final - he beat them all.
Now, he's training alongside Tokyo Olympic hopefuls Aimee Fischer and Tuva Clifton.
"I like to give them a run for their money," a laughing Hart said.
"I don't want to be left behind, like being the new guy, I want to train even harder to keep up with them."
He now has his eyes firmly on Tokyo next year.
"I will be going - and I'll tell myself that, and I'll keep going until I get there."
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