“After becoming blind, I wanted to die. Now, if you ask me if I want to have my eyesight back or to be crowned as Paralympic champion, I choose the latter without a doubt.”

These are the words of Darwin Castro, one of eight athletes from Latin America whose remarkable stories are being told in a series of short films ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

They are have all benefitted from a partnership between the Agitos Foundation – which is the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) development arm – the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and Brazilian Paralympic Committee. The aim is to ensure the first Paralympic Games in Latin America leave a lasting legacy to the region.

Not of this world

The Road to Rio 2016: Agitos Foundation Sessions have helped 155 para-athletes, coaches and classifiers from 23 countries over the past 18 months, providing them with expert training.

Castro's story shows the effect the initiative has had. After losing his sight at 16 when he was diagnosed with Keratoconus, the Ecuadorian said “it was as if I did not fit in this world ”. His life improved when he discovered athletics, and in particular a running guide who became like a brother.

After support from Agitos Foundation Sessions, which included training workshop in São Paulo, Brazil, the 22-year-old won the 5000m T11 bronze medal at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.

After multiple surgeries failed to recover his eyesight, Castro rediscovered confidence, motivation and hope in sport. “I dream and think about athletics during the whole day,” he said. “I carefully select what I eat to perform better on the track.

“Athletics is a window to show the world that disabilities are no limit. It is the oxygen I breathe.”

Castro moved to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, where he lives with the family of his guide and best friend, Sebastian Rosero. There he can train harder and now he is optimistic about winning his country’s first ever Paralympic Games medal. “If I continue this way, I have no doubts that I will achieve it,” he says.

Castro’s story launched #TeamAgitos, which aims to raise awareness of the Agitos Foundation by encouraging people to show their support for para-sport on social media.

Castro said the Agitos Foundation has helped him grow as an athlete, make important contacts and learn how to become a high-performance athlete. He hopes his story will encourage other people with an impairment to take up sport.

“I can inspire people and show them that a disability should not limit you,” he says.

The Agitos Foundation's Road to Rio 2016 videos will feature one athlete per week on the IPC's YouTube channel until the 4 August. A final video for each athlete will then be published the week before the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games begin on 7 September.