Ibrahim Al Hussein inspirational story from the Paralympic games in Rio 2016

Ibrahim Al Hussein represented the Paralympic refugee team in this year's games in Rio. He was named as one-half of the Independent Paralympic Athlete Team representing refugees and asylum seekers.

The inclusion of refugees in the Paralympic and Olympic teams has served to remind a global audience of the plight of those trapped in war-torn countries. As Ollie King highlighted in this blog  'The Syrian Refugee Crisis: Shining a light on the response to impairment, disease, and disability' that levels of conflict-related injuries are notably high in the case of the Syrian conflict. One in 30 refugees that fled to Lebanon, and one in 15 refugees in Jordan were injured as a direct result of the fighting.

Al Hussein story is no different in 2012 a year after the civil war broke out in his country, a bomb went off close to his home. The 27-year-old had taken shelter from the blast inside his house but was alerted when he heard cries for help from his friend. Courageously he ran out of the building and across the street to try and help his friend but was hit by a rocket, injuring his leg.

He managed to crawl away from the scene and was rescued by some of his friends. However the damage to his leg was too severe and doctors had to amputate the limb from the mid-calf down.

After his leg was amputated in Syria Al Hussein fled his hometown and first travelled to Turkey before reaching the Greek island of Samos, travelling on a rubber dinghy, to seek further treatment for his leg.

He was granted asylum in the country in 2014 where he started to swim again. As a child he was a keen athlete who dreamed to one day become an Olympic swimmer. After his leg was amputated he didn't give up on his dream and carried on training.

You can watch his inspiring story to Rio below.

Although Al Hussein didn't win any medals this year at the games he has contributed to changing the face of disability and refugees.