9 People Who Knew They Could Do It  Image credit:   The
wonderful response and suggested additions to the post 9 People
Who Did It Anyway led me to explore more people who could've
taken the easy way out due to disabilities, but instead followed
their passions.  The Teenage Amputee Explorer  Janek Mela is a
double amputee from Gdansk, Poland who became the youngest
person to reach the North Pole, and then the South Pole. Born in
1988, Mela was 13 years old when he was electrocuted in a
transformer building. His left arm and right leg were so damaged
they had to be amputated. In April of 2004, Mela accompanied
polar explorer Marek KamiÅ„ski on a 70 kilometer walk from
Spitsbergen, Norway to the North Pole. On December 31st of the
same year, the two reached the South Pole. Mela had turned 16
years old the day before. See photos of the expeditions at
KamiÅ„ski's website.  Major League Southpaw   Jim Abbott was
born in Michigan in 1967 without a right hand, but he played
professional baseball for ten years. Abbot