As Juan Pablo Dos Santos approached the New York City Marathon finish line this week, he began to question if he would actually make it.
Dos Santos, a 26-year-old Venezuelan amputee who lost his lower limbs in a 2019 car accident, needed to throw himself to the ground every 100 steps, remove his prostheses, and dry his liners in order to prevent his skin from breaking as he attempted to complete the 26.2-mile race.
"It was a complete mental struggle where pain was present and only increasing," Dos Santos told ABC News Digital following the marathon this week, in an interview translated from Spanish to English.
Not long after midnight on Monday, Nov. 3, after more than 15 hours of running, Dos Santos was cheered across the finish line like a champion, becoming the final runner to complete the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon.
Dos Santos' journey to the Central Park finish line started long before Nov. 2.
On Sept. 8, 2019, Dos Santos lost both of his legs in a destructive car crash. "The [prognosis was] not good at all," he said. "There was reconstruction in my hip, in my pelvis, in what was left of my lower limbs, and the majority of the prosthesis specialists and traumatologists dared to say that I would never walk again."
As Dos Santos and his family struggled to pay off his medical bills, an anonymous donor stepped in and funded Dos Santos' recovery, paying for his prostheses and treatment at "one of the best clinics in Latin America," he said.
He said the act of kindness from a stranger taught him that "with small things ... we can make big changes in the lives of others."
Dos Santos said that throughout his recovery, he was determined to prove his doctors wrong by walking again.
"Something I have learned is to use each of the 'no's' I receive in life as fuel to keep moving forward and understanding that we all have the desire to emerge, to grow and to achieve the things we want," he said.
Inspired by the help he received in his own recovery journey, Dos Santos subsequently started the Fundación Juan Pablo 2 Santos in order to "help as many children as I can to continue walking towards their dreams," Dos Santos said.
The foundation's mission is to help amputees acquire prosthetic treatments, according to its official Instagram page.
Once Dos Santos achieved his goal of walking again, his eyes rested on a new goal: the New York Marathon.
He said his motivation to run the marathon first came from "how impossible it seemed to each of the people to whom I told this dream."
"I think that the 'no' that was hidden in their eyes and in their expressions motivated me to fight with all my strength to achieve what seemed impossible," he added.
Training for the marathon worked differently for Dos Santos than it did for most runners. Because he had to preserve his skin and protect it from irritation, Dos Santos said he could not accumulate as much distance as other runners do in their marathon preparations. Instead, he focused on swimming and strength training.
Dos Santos said he began the marathon nervous but comfortable, greeting all of his supporters who came to watch him run.
Dos Santos said he approached a crucial part of the race between kilometers 20 and 30 (approximately miles 12 and 19).
There, he said, "every kilometer that began to pass seemed to be worth three."
"I felt that the clock was running slower, and that each time, my watch was showing less distance traveled," he added.
Dos Santos said between kilometers 30 and 35 (miles 19 and 22, approximately) he took a devastating tumble. "It was a very painful moment where I felt that this is how far the race could go," he said. "But I got back on my feet and moved on."
For the final 2 kilometers of the race, Dos Santos said the pain was "unbearable."
Finally, at 12:30 a.m., Dos Santos crossed the finish line.
"After passing the finish line, for about 10 minutes, it was as if the tiredness, pain and exhaustion were completely gone," he recalled. "I was just thinking about the purpose for which [I had run] this race ... and how many people were seeing this and being inspired and realizing that they can also fight to achieve their dreams."
Dos Santos said he wants his achievement to inspire people to chase goals that might feel unreachable.
"If any of those people feel that they are coming late to their dreams, if any of those people feel that it is too late to try those things that they love," he said, "this is the proof that no matter if you arrive last, you have to cross the finish line."
