Forty-three-year-old Nepalese veteran Hari Budha Magar has become the first person with double above-the-knee amputations to summit Mt. Everest.

Magar lost both his legs to an IED explosion in 2010 while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan. From Nepal, Magar served with the Gurkhas, a Nepalese-Indian fighting force that sends members to serve with the British due to the UK's colonial past in the Indian subcontinent.

After this experience, he battled depression and alcoholism, but he said that sports like golfing, skiing, and climbing helped him to overcome his hardships.

Magar said of his motivation for taking on Everest,

I grew up in Nepal, up to age of 19, and I saw how the disabled people were treated in those remote village. Many people still think that disability is a sin of previous life and you are the burden of the earth. I believed this myself because that is what I saw. That is how I grew up.

The veteran had previously advocated against a ban on both the blind and double amputees climbing Everest, giving himself and countless others the chance to do what he has now proven could be done.

He went on to tell the BBC,

My big goals were simply to change perceptions on disability and to inspire other people to climb their own mountains.

No matter how big your dreams, no matter how challenging your disability, with the right mindset, anything is possible.