Alex Minsky – An Exemplary Model for Courage

Modelling has for ages been considered a vocation for the physically beautiful and perhaps well endowed.
People are daily enraptured that these models, the beauty they exude, the wealth they possess, the fame and an endless repertoire of attributes.
Well, it sure looks like fashion modeling is now shifting more and more towards the magical “inner beauty” than the obvious physical one, and that’s big deal.
Models that have broken classical standards of beauty are now inspiring us to make a change in our own lives – no, not taking up the latest fad diet – but actually becoming better, stronger, kinder people. The story of Alex will fill your eyes with tears of sadness and joy at the same time.
Retired Marine Cpl. Alex Minsky, is a courageous man. He was awarded with a Purple Heart for his heroic military service. He recently started modeling and has conquered television and the whole Internet after he revealed his impressive life story.
As a teenage misfit, he quit school at 17 to play guitar in a heavy metal band and live like a rockstar… but ended up enrolling in the US Marine Corps and exceeding everyone’s expectations. He turned out to be an excellent Marine, but a terrible accident cut his career short.
In 2009, less than a month into his first tour in Afghanistan, Alex ran over a roadside bomb. His right leg was instantly blown off below the knee, his jaw was broken, and his right arm was shredded to pieces. The hit also caused him a brain injury that dragged his chances of survival close to zero.
After thirteen operations and 47 days of coma, Alex woke up only to discover he was no longer able to do any of the things he loved. He couldn’t go back to the Marine Corps, he couldn’t play guitar… In fact, he could barely speak, eat or walk.
It took one year and a half hospitalization and a harsh recovery program to start feeling like his old self again. And yet – despite his incredible strength – depression caught up on him and pushed him on a slippery slope straight into alcoholism.
He binge-drank every single day for two years, until he found the one thing that could keep his mind off alcohol and suicidal thoughts: he started working out twice a day, 6 days a week, at a fitness studio in LA. That’s where he was discovered by fashion photographer Tom Cullis who offered him the chance to turn his traumatizing story into a positive example of courage, hope, and ambition.
Once again, Alex exceeded all expectations. Instead of running away from his past and starting anew (like most people would), he now shares his story and the lessons he’s learned with anyone struggling with depression and hopelessness. His prosthetic leg – that he shows in each and every photo shoot – remains a lesson of courage and ambition that has been inspiring thousands of people all over the world.