Jessica Heims was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, meaning bands of tissue were tangled up before she was born that led to limb deformity. For Heims, it meant her right leg was not fully formed and was significantly shorter than the other. The doctors attempted to salvage it, but when she was one year old, her parents opted to amputate the leg below the knee. "It was the hardest decision they had to make, but the best one for me;” she said.

At the time, she said her parents didn't know any amputees. "It seemed so daunting and terrifying, but my leg wasn't functional;' Heims said. "They thought 'we're holding her back more trying to keep up the appearance of normal; when in reality I would lead a more normal life with an amputation.

Since that is all she has always known, Heims didn't notice the difference until the middle of elementary school. "I knew I was the one that had to put a leg on the morning," she said. "But it took me a while to realize that other people viewed me slightly differently.”

Growing up, Heims was a very active kid. "I loved trying out all the sports,” she said. "My sisters and I were put into about everything. I wanted to do everything my sisters did. I ran through a lot of my feet:' Early on, she was into a lot of team sports, like basketball and soccer. "In elementary school, I went to go kick the ball in a soccer game and my leg went with it,” she remembered.

Then, she found track and field. While Heims was in fifth grade, her older sister started middle school track and field and cross country, so she wanted to do that. "I fell in love with it immediately,” Heims said. "I forgot every other sport once I got on the track:' Heims would try all the running and throwing events. "It fit me like a glove," she said.
Starting out, she wasn't good at it, coming in last in every race and every competition. "My love for competing far outweighed my hatred of losing. It was just me and the clock or the measuring tape. Technically I was against other people, but it really was just me against myself;' she explained.

"Track allowed me to be me for a minute, and not focus on how that affects other people,” Heims stated. Originally, Heims started out with distance events. "For 30 minutes in the 5K, you can think about whatever you want. It can be a mental escape. It was just me and my sport,” she said.

In the beginning, Heims fell in love with the casual side of the sport, then with the competition side. "You can fall back on your love for the sport on the hard days,” she said.

In 2010 or 2011, her family went to a triathlon and learned about adaptive sports. "Then my mom did some internet research and discovered the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma. We decided to make that our family vacation and make the nine-hour drive south,” she said.

That experience was transformative for Heims and her family. "There were kids with all different types of disabilities competing in all different kinds of sports. I could relate to the other kids there, my parents could relate to the other parents there, and my sisters could relate to the other siblings of disabled kids there. That was a new experience,” Heims remembered.

At that three-day event, Heims signed up for every competition. She made a whole bunch of friends there, learned about the Paralympics, and met some Paralympic athletes. "That 10- or 11-year-old me was a little star struck,” she said.

Of course, she also won a few medals. "That was about 15 years ago that I had that summer - that was a really cool summer. That was the first time being with other people with my disability and it was so interesting to me. We all were dealing with the same thing,” Heims said.

Soon, their family summer vacations were formed around those competitions, and they built them into their lives.
In 2014, Heims realized she had met a standard to go to Paralympic nationals in San Mateo, California and went out to the competition. "I was going against the big wigs,” she remembered. "In the lane next to me was the record holder. It was scary, but also felt natural to me.”

The following year, she returned. And in October of 2015, Heims made the worlds team in discus and the 400-meter held in Qatar. "That was my first adult international competition;· she said. "I was 16 at the meet, and it solidified how much I wanted to do this.” She would place fifth in both events.

When it came to the Paralympic trials in 2016, Heims again met the standard to go. "I decided that was going to be my next goat;” she remembered. So, she traveled to the competition in North Carolina and would make the Paralympic team at 17 years old "That was one of the proudest moments of my life;” Heims stated.

The Rio Paralympics was a wild experience for Heims. "It was so amazing and fantastic. I kept pinching myself and wondering if it was real. But it also felt right in a way, and it felt right to be there;” she said.

Coming back from Rio, Heims wanted to compete at the collegiate level. She toured a number of campuses and received lukewarm reception until she arrived at the University of Northern Iowa. "One step into meeting the coaches, I knew it was the place. They said, 'we've never done this before, but we are willing to learn if you are willing to teach us;" she remembered. The whole school would end up getting behind her for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

More recently, Heims took silver at the Parapan American Games last year and her first national competition of this year took place back in March. Currently, she is mainly focused on discus but uses sprints as great cross training. "Using sprints to get that energy, speed, and momentum through the ring has been a huge advantage for me;” she said. The sport is also very technical, so she spends a lot of time doing repetitive drills to get into the rhythm and spends time weightlifting for strength.

Paris will be the third Paralympic Games for Heims. "I am in a strongly competitive classification group in discus;” she said. But she hopes to do the sport as long as she can. "I love the sport, and it is fun to be a veteran at 25;” Heims said.

"This sport has meant everything to me. Sport has created so much opportunity in my life. I genuinely would not be me without my sport.”