Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!

Στοπ στην γκρίνια και στο μιρ μιρ. 
La vita è bella! La vita è una figata!
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!

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20-year-old Paralympic fencer Beatrice Vio is a veritable sports icon in Italy, a model of courage whose battle against disease, infectious enthusiasm and prowess have won her legions of loyal fans.

"My motto is, 'life is too good'," Beatrice Vio said with a laugh in an interview.

"I was 11 years old when I got sick. I was struck down suddenly with meningitis C," said the blue-eyed blonde from northern Italy.

The disease become necrotic, giving her doctors no choice but to amputate both legs and forearms.

It also ravaged her face, leaving it deeply scarred. Several months of intensive rehabilitation in hospital followed, during which Vio learned to walk again using prosthetic limbs designed specifically for her.

"After a difficult time, it was my dream of fencing again that helped shorten my hospital stay," she said.

When she presented herself to the coach of the Italian Paralympic fencing team, she was told she couldn’t train. She replied, “Why?” Vio became the only quadruple amputee Paralympic fencer, taking a bronze in London in 2012 and individual gold in Rio.

World's first competitive fencer with no arms or legs, Vio uses prosthetic arms but standard foils or epee weapons. While she can walk almost normally on her prosthetic legs, she competes in a wheelchair.

At the end of 2009, based on her experience, the not-for-profit organization, the Associazione Art4sport Onlus was created, its objective being to promote sport as a part of physical therapy for young people who have lost limbs to amputation. Bebe remains the charity’s key spokesperson, and works tirelessly to spread the word and grow the association.