Adaptive motocross racer and para-snowboarder Kiana Clay joins John O’Leary on the Live Inspired Podcast.
Kiana Clay is the first adaptive female motocross racer, a top-ranked para-snowboarder and 2026 Paralympic hopeful.
At 12 years old, Kiana suffered a traumatic brachial plexus injury on a motocross practice run that left her right arm paralyzed. While recovering from this accident, she was hit by a drunk driver, reversing any strength she was recovering and leaving her dominant arm permanently paralyzed.
Although these circumstances certainly changed her life, Kiana is not letting them define her.
Today, Kiana shares how she learned to accept her body, her struggle with depression, how she’s learned to trust God and what led to her recent decision to have her injured arm amputated.
This conversation is a reminder that you can’t always choose the path you walk (or race!) in life, but you can always choose the manner in which you walk (or race!) it.
And you don’t want to miss her answer to her the fourth question of Live Inspired 7 when I ask who she’d like to have a long conversation with.
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Did you enjoy today’s episode? You’ll love hearing from MasterChef’s Christine Ha. Like Kiana, Christine had to adapt to her later-in-life disability. At 20 years old, Christine lost her ability to see. Instead of losing faith or focusing on what she had lost, she used it as her inspiration to pursue her life’s passion: cooking. Hear Christine Ha’s story of resilience, courage and passion on ep. 342.
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KIANA CLAY'S LIVE INSPIRED 7
- Q. What is the best book you’ve ever read?
A. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. - Q. What is a characteristic or trait that you possessed as a child that you wish you still exhibited today?
A. It’s sad that back then it was looked at as a negative trait but bossy, stubborn and headstrong. I see them as a much more positive light today. - Q. Your house is on fire, all living things and people are out. You have the opportunity to run in and grab one item. What would it be?
A. My Supercross helmet. - Q. You are sitting on a bench overlooking a gorgeous beach. You have the opportunity to have a long conversation with anyone living or dead. Who would it be?
A. Snopp Dogg and Paul the Apostle. - Q. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A. My dad saying, “stop talking about it and start doing something,” and “take the emotion out of things”. - Q. What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
A. No matter where you’ve come from, what traumatic experiences you’ve lived through, what disability or negative circumstance comes into your life, you have the opportunity to make it into something good, and you can make it into what you want it to be. Stop tiptoeing through life to arrive safely at death. - Q. It’s been said that all great people can have their lives summed up in one sentence. How do you want yours to read?
A. Man, trust God.
