Freak accident to the Milan 2026 Paralympics: Farmer from The Rock is on a mission!

When faced with the most difficult and painful situation of one’s life, it can be understood, if not expected, that following that event, you may struggle to re-enter day-to-day life.

For Aaron McCarthy, this situation occurred on 14 December 2021 when a freak header accident on his farm only a few kilometres out from The Rock, resulted in him losing his left leg. Despite the obvious challenges that Aaron and his family had to face, they never let it overwhelm them.

Aaron, his wife Tahnee and their two children rode the waves of his rehab, travelled the state to work with different programs and eventually several new doors opened for him, one of which could see him participate in one of the world’s biggest sporting events, the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan.

As for many Australians, snowboarding wasn’t the first sport on Aaron’s radar post amputation. Aaron initially tried his hand at Wheelchair AFL, travelling to Melbourne as part of the inaugural NSW ACT Rolling Rams Wheelchair AFL team.

Much like he did with snowboarding, Aaron picked it up quickly, being named the best and fairest in his first season in 2022. 2023 saw him reach even higher levels, making the grand final in division two and again being named best and fairest.

Despite the success in Wheelchair AFL, Aaron set his goals a little higher after landing a trip to a world-leading mobility clinic in Thredbo in 2022.

“Seven or eight months after the accident I was accepted onto an offsite mobility clinic through Ossur (an Icelandic mobility and prosthetics company) on the snow,” Aaron said.

“I spent a weekend out at Thredbo and I was instantly hooked. I got to spend some time with DWA (Disabled Wintersport Australia) guides and Paralympic snowboarder Joany Badenhorst.

“There are eight spots and nearly 100 applicants every year for the program; I was fortunate enough to get a spot on that camp. From there it just sort of snowballed, excuse the pun.”

During his weekend at Thredbo, Aaron and his support group joked about being able to snowboard down a blue run (an amateur trail). While some dismissed this as a joke from Aaron, he took it seriously and worked hard to give it a go in only his first weekend snowboarding without a leg.

“You never know how far you can push your body until something happens that makes you,” Aaron said.

“Obviously learning to walk again was quite a challenge; I spent the first 12 months using different prosthetics. I fell over quite a bit, but I just kept going. I found it easier to snowboard than I did to walk, which sounds a bit strange but is true.

“I use a different prosthetic for snowboarding than I do for walking. It has shock absorbers that make it really easy to take some impact going down the slopes and I found myself really taking to it.

“While at Thredbo, people were telling me to keep my expectations realistic. That was midway through the first morning, and by lunchtime the same day I was going down blue runs with a prosthetic I’d never used up until that point.

Following Aaron’s time in Thredbo and a meeting with 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympian Josh “Chooka” Hanlon in early 2023, he attended Disabled Wintersport Australia and Snow Australia development camps to improve his skills and spend more time on the snow.

Aaron eventually got in touch with an Australia para-development coordinator who placed him on the Emerging Talent Program (ETP) with Snow Australia and tasked him with trying to get over 30 days and 50 days of snow across the 2023 and 2024 domestic seasons.

With the support of his wife Tahnee, the McCarthys packed up their gear and headed to Jindabyne for the snow season. Aaron committed to a full-time three-and-a-half-month program and smashed the goals set for him.

Looking to become internationally classified in the next few months, Aaron will be heading to Europe to compete in the Europa Cup in hopes of being selected for the World Cup team and, eventually, the 2026 Paralympic team.

Due to the lack of participants in Aaron’s specific disability classification, LL1 (LL1 is for snowboarders with moderately affected movement of the knees or legs, the absence of one leg above the knee or two legs below the knee,) Aaron is unable to secure funding to compete overseas by the AIS or similar sporting bodies until he is selected for the World Cup and Paralympic teams.

“This upcoming season will all pretty much be self-funded until sporting contracts come out in the middle of 2025,” Aaron explained.

“I’m pretty confident about getting selected,” Aaron said.

“There’s a few guys from the Great British High-Performance team who came here during the season and they were all pretty impressed with where I’m at, and believe I’ll be super competitive at Europa Cup level.

“Right now, we’re just looking for people to support us with the next leg of the journey, because until you’re selected it’s quite expensive.”

Aaron and his family have set up several events within the Riverina community to help raise funds for his trip to Europe as well as a raising page on the Australian Sports Foundation website.

Aaron and Tahnee will be hosting a trivia night at The Rock Bowling Club on Friday 25 October as well as a Bunnings sausage sizzle and a meat raffle at The Union Hotel in December.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without all of the support from my family and friends. People have offered to help with the farm while I’m away, people have donated to support my trip and even offered to host events for us,” he said.

“I really would like to repay this support by heading to the 2026 Paralympics.”

To follow Aaron and his journey to Milan 2026, be sure to follow his socials on Instagram or on Facebook.