Casey Pieretti: Acrobatic Skater and Single Leg Amputee

Copyright © Kathie Fry of SkateLog.com
I met Casey Pieretti for the first time in October of 2001 when he was giving a motivational presentation and skating demonstration to a group of students at an elementary school in the Danish Village of Solvang in Southern California.

How Casey Lost His Leg 
Casey was an active college student and athlete when he lost his leg in an accident caused by a drunk driver. It took several months for him to recover from his traumatic injuries, and during that time he made a decision not to let his accident destroy his life. He began making plans to continue his athletic career after his recovery. After working very hard during several months of physical therapy, Casey started training to become a serious triathlete, setting a goal for himself of not only participating in the most important competitions for amputee athletes, but swimming, cycling, running, and competing against non-amputee athletes as well.

Casey's Message to Kids 
Casey's story about his accident, recovery period, and subsequent career as a triathlon athlete and motivational speaker is an emotional and inspirational tale full of heartbreak, despair, hope, and triumph. His motivational speeches include an anti-drug and alcohol abuse message, but the main focus of his presentation is convincing his audience, not to be afraid of setting lofty goals for themselves, and not to be discouraged, or consider themselves helpless victims, when life deals them a bad hand.

Official Casey Pieretti Web Site 
Pieretti.com
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Casey Pieretti - An actor and stuntman who has had a life full of tragedy and triumph. At the age of nineteen, while on a college basketball scholarship, Casey was struck by a drunk driver. The result of this car wreck was the loss of Casey's right leg below the knee. Casey, a below knee amputee, skated from San Diego, California to Washinton D.C. on inline skates in 1993. In the hospital, "they thought that I was in denial, that I was thinking like a person who had two legs all their lives and not like a person who now had one leg, whereas I was thinking like a person who now had one leg and I was thinking that these are the things I intended to do and I did. Even when I was in hospital, I was deciding to be a triathlete, which is what I did after I got out of the hospital."