Josh Sundquist | |
---|---|
Born | Charlottesville, Virginia | August 6, 1984
Occupation | Motivational Speaker, Comedian, Author, YouTuber |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Citizenship | United States |
Education | Bachelor of Business Administration Master's in Communications |
Alma mater | College of William and Mary University of Southern California |
Genre | Memoir, Fiction |
Spouse | Ashley Nolan (m. 2015) |
Website | |
joshsundquist |
Joshua Lee Sundquist (born August 6, 1984) is an American comedian, Paralympian, and author. [1] He lost his left leg to Ewing's sarcoma at age nine and later became a Paralympic ski racer. His memoir, Just Don't Fall: How I Grew Up, Conquered Illness, and Made it Down the Mountain, was released in January 2010. A new show on Apple TV+ has recently been released called Best Foot Forward about his early life experiences.
Sundquist was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia as the eldest of four children. [2]
Six years after surviving a battle with cancer and losing his leg, Sundquist began ski racing. At age 17 he moved to Colorado to pursue the sport full-time. [3] Sundquist trained and competed for six years, and in 2006 he was named to the United States Paralympic Ski Team and raced in the IX Paralympic Games, which were held in Turin, Italy that March. Sundquist competed in two alpine skiing events for men – slalom and giant slalom. He did not win any medals. [4]
After the Paralympics, Sundquist retired from professional racing and returned to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he graduated with a degree in business from The College of William and Mary's Mason School of Business the same year. [5] He later earned a Master's in Communications from the University of Southern California.
Sundquist was sixteen when he gave his first motivational talk and has been speaking to groups ever since. [6]
He is a motivational speaker who presents to groups around the United States. Sundquist's audiences and clients have included Facebook, WalMart, the White House, RE/MAX, National FFA Organization, and Children's Miracle Network. [7] [8] [9] [10]
Since July 2018, Sundquist has performed an interactive one-man comedy show called We Should Hang Out Sometime at Santa Monica Playhouse & Group Theatre in Santa Monica. The show is based on his memoir, We Should Hang Out Sometime. [11]
In 2001, Sundquist became a contributing writer for the Daily Guideposts, and he has also written for Guideposts Magazine, a monthly publication that features first-person narratives of faith in daily life and a subscriber base of 2.3 million. [12]
He has been published in The Washington Post and in Newsweek's now defunct college magazine, Current. [13] [14]
Sundquist's memoir, Just Don't Fall: How I Grew Up, Conquered Illness, and Made it Down the Mountain, was released on January 21, 2010, and became a national bestseller. [15] It has been adapted into a television series, titled Best Foot Forward, which premieres July 22, 2022 on Apple TV+. [16] Sundquist's latest book, Semi-Famous was released on July 19, 2022.
Sundquist was chosen as one of CNN's 2007 Heroes, in recognition of his work within the amputee community. In particular, CNN profiled Sundquist and his founding of the social networking website for persons with amputations, LessThanFour.org. [17]
Sundquist married Ashley Elizabeth Nolan on September 19, 2015, in St. Michaels, Maryland and lives in Santa Monica, California. Sundquist proposed to Nolan in September 2014, after three years of dating. [18] They have a pekingese named Mushu. [19]
Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is also the county seat of the surrounding Rockingham County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. At the 2020 census, the population was 51,814. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Harrisonburg with Rockingham County for statistical purposes into the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 126,562 in 2011.
The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games (or IWAS World Games) are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability, which were the forerunner of the Paralympic Games. The competition has been formerly known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, the World Wheelchair Games, the International Stoke Mandeville Games, the Stoke Mandeville Games (SMG), and in the 1960s and 1970s was often referred to as the Wheelchair Olympics.
The 2010 Winter Paralympics, or the tenth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from March 12 to 21, 2010. The opening ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing Ceremony in Whistler Medals Plaza.
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Sandra "Sandy" Dukat is an American Paralympic athlete. Born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, she had her right leg amputated above the knee at the age of four. She has competed internationally in alpine skiing, swimming and triathlon. As of February 2013, she holds the marathon world record for above-knee amputee women.
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