Bethel Acres Girl, 8, To Receive New Prosthetic For Running

A Bethel Acres girl is not letting her physical limitations set her back.

Hope Smith, 8, was born with a rare birth defect which caused a leg amputation.

She racked up several medals at this year's UCO Endeavor Games for athletes with physical disabilities.

However, she was not always so comfortable.

At her first event in 2011, she did not budge when the gun sounded for the race to start.

“I wanted to go out there and pick her up and say, 'You know what, it's okay,' but the parents can't walk onto that track, so it was really hard,” said Stormi Boland, Hope's mother.

Finally, Hope started walking slowly and halfway down the track, she broke into a sprint.

The crowd went wild and it was a breakthrough moment for Hope.

“You can overcome anything,” Boland said. “It doesn't matter what it is, you can overcome and do anything and for Hope, she can be anything."

Hope was born without a tibia bone in her leg.

Doctors amputated her leg at 18 months.

“It's hard as a parent to make a choice to take a piece of your child away,” Boland told News 9.

Hope got her first prosthetic leg when she was 20 months old and she learned how to walk on her own at 3 years old.

She shows off her personality with each new prosthetic by decorating it with different themes.

She is currently waiting on her newest running leg, a racer leg that is being painted with the Frozen characters.

She received it through a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation and a donated socket from Scott Sabolich Prosthetics and Research.

Hope said she wants people to learn from her perseverance.

“I don't say, ‘One more time,’ I just get up and do it,” Hope giggled.

Hope has her eyes set on swimming in the Endeavor Games, so Boland is going to look into some special swim lessons to make it happen.

Hope has a GoFundMe account set up for all of her future adventures.

Click here to follow Hope's story on her family's blog.