Sam Becker: From Cancer Survivor to Sled Hockey Star

In earning a spot on the US development team, Becker moves one step closer to his dream of the Paralympic Games.

When he was 15, Sam Becker ’25 was faced with a grueling choice: keep the metal prosthesis in his weakened right leg and endure more infections, or have the leg amputated below the knee.

His parents did plenty of research and talked to numerous doctors. “But in the end, it was Sam’s decision,” his mother, Karen Becker says. “The toughest decision of his life.”

Becker had been diagnosed five years earlier with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer prevalent among children and teens. The tumor and bone in his leg were removed, and doctors inserted a metal prosthesis. Becker learned to walk again and endured months of chemotherapy.

But bacterial infections twice forced doctors to replace the prosthesis, and each time Becker followed the same routine: wheelchair, crutches, cane, walking. The process took months, and he was in constant discomfort, with little mobility. Doctors believed it was a chronic condition that could reappear at any time.

It was sled hockey that ultimately convinced Becker to choose amputation.

Becker had begun playing the sport two years earlier. In sled hockey, players with mobility limitations sit in specially designed sleds atop two skate blades. Each player uses two sticks instead of the traditional one.

“I saw that amputees were more active than I was,” he says. “They were playing a sport they loved and having fun. Having my leg amputated below the knee was the hardest decision of my life, but I had found something that would keep me active. Sled hockey gave me back my competitive spirit.”

Five years later, Becker is an optics major at the University of Rochester and a member of the US development squad, with his eyes set on the 2026 Paralympic Games in Italy. He’s pursuing two career paths—academics and athletics. And he’s more active, and happier, than ever.

Read more of Sam's story: https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/sam-becker-us-sled-hockey-development-team-554052/

Rotationplasty animation courtesy of MD Anderson Cancer Center
Copyright held by, and used with permission of, The Board of Regents of the
University of Texas System through The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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