Quotes from Arunima Sinha

I resolved that I would not let the fear of death hold me back.

My life has been all about risks.

Whenever the national para-athletic games are held, information does not reach the athletes. Whether the physically-challenged athletes participate or not, is a different question. But, we should be informed at least by emails.

Everyone in my family enjoys sports and I was naturally athletic as a child. I have been cycling since I can remember, had previously represented by school in football and later my college at national level volleyball.

Conquering Island Peak was very important as it increased my confidence.

Mountaineering helps in developing confidence and when I scaled Mt. Everest, I saw many people connecting with me which inspired me to scale all peaks across the globe.

I have already done seven highest peaks. Now, I want to open a sports academy for children, people with disability and help them rise as I did.

Ever since I lost my limb and started walking with a prosthetic leg, I had been working only on my goal of conquering the 29,000 feet summit. Now that it has been achieved, my next goal is the Seven Summits.

I stubbornly chose the most difficult sport for myself. When I reached the summit, I felt like screaming at the top of my voice. I wanted to tell the world: here I am. I have saved that moment inside me.

Mountaineering isn't as solo a sport as one may think. While the main goal is to reach the peak, one also keeps an eye out for others on the way. Nobody is left behind, and until everyone in the group reaches the summit, the mission isnt accomplished.

I have successfully completed the 5th summit of the Mission 7 Summits. I have climbed Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, South America. This is also known as second Everest.

I knew that there would be climbers around me who would reach the summit faster. I was warned not to be hasty.

I come from Ambedkar Nagar, a small district in Uttar Pradesh 200 kilometres away from Lucknow. My father was an engineer in the army and my mother, Gyan Bala, a health supervisor in a government primary health centre. My father passed away when I was three.

I had to figure out a different way of walking to ease my journey to the top, surviving in mountains, and more importantly, I learnt patience.

Obviously, after the accident, I felt let down. Questions arose: Why me? Why was I the one to suffer? People around me started giving me looks of sympathy which made me feel worse. But then, I pulled myself together and decided to win over the disability.

The injuries and subsequent incidents inspired me to do something. I converted my weakness into my strength and made it my weapon.

I never sat on a wheelchair during my recovery, never wanted to sit at all. Its also a bit psychological. I thought if I sat on a wheelchair once, itll remain stuck to me for a lifetime.

I was a volleyball player. After the accident, I played the sport in a wheelchair but never liked it. I wanted to live my life like a queen.

My left leg had to be amputated from below the knee immediately to prevent gangrene from setting in. I was losing blood alarmingly. Here I was informed that the hospital was out of anaesthesia. With no choice, I instructed them to go ahead with the amputation. The limb was sawed off while I was fully conscious.

By conquering all the seven summits I will prove that physical disability can never be a hindrance in achieving your life's goal if you have mental strength, strong willpower and firm determination.

I wanted to live further but wanted to do something special. I took it upon myself to remover the tag of being 'helpless'.

I wanted to tell everyone that I'm on top of the world, especially to those people who thought a woman and an amputee couldn't do it. I took off my mask and screamed, and my sherpa just stared at me.

My artificial leg was very unstable on the ice so I had to be before careful. I couldn't tend to my wounds because my amputated leg would have suffered frostbite. I couldn't even remove my gloves.

I chose to climb Everest because I thought it was the toughest thing to do. In May 2011, I made the decision and by March 2012 I had started training for it.