The Paralympian skier Josh Sundquist is conquering Halloween once again with another inventive costume.
Sundquist had his leg amputated at the age of nine after being diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer mostly commonly diagnosed in teenagers and young adults.
He moved to Colorado aged 17 to pursue professional ski racing before joining the US Parlaympic Ski team in 2006. Sundquist competed in the IX Paralympic Games in Turin, Italy, before retiring.
The self-declared Halloween enthusiast has a burgeoning YouTube following and often gives talks as a motivational speaker. He has also published a memoir, Just Don’t Fall and a second book about his experiences with dating, We Should Hang Out Sometime.
Each year Sundquist debuts another 'amputee Halloween' costume and this year Sundquist found inspiration in the IHOP restaurant chain. Some of his elaborate Halloween get-ups have included a flamingo, a Shrek-inspired gingerbread man with a leg missing, a lamp and a football player from a foosball table.
The 31-year-old says he uses comedy as a way of countering his disability and his costumes as way of celebrating who he is.
“I’ve always dealt with the social discomfort of my disability by having a sense of humour,” he writes on his blog. “But I used to be much more self-conscious.
“In high school I wore a prosthesis all the time and didn’t want anyone to find out I was missing a leg. But now I’m more comfortable with who I am and what I look like, and I guess with these Halloween costumes you could even say that I celebrate what makes me different. Which may be either weird or refreshing, depending on your perspective.”
