[Male Model] Fernando Fernandes - From Model to Role Model

Plz hold ur breath before going through this article. The story of male model I want to introduce u this time won’t please ur eyes but hit ur heart.

 Last article I write about male model was about Chad White, a baseball player turned worldwide mode as got serious injury on knee.

The model I write this time has utterly different story. He is Fernando Fernandes , a Brazilian model and a para-canoe rower.

Brazil 20 hottest male model
Before World Cup kicking off in June 2014, Out Magazine revealed the list of 20 hottest model. U know it is impossible for a blog about male models to miss such great list while I checked each boy’s instagram account immediately. Their lifetime is such amazing, doing surfing, chilling out with friend, walking the runway, and showing their unbelievable abs for editorial. Until I checked the account of Fernando Fernandes, it blew my mind.

He is a hottest model in wheelchair.

I checked the account again to confirm it is his. Thanks to his beautiful tattoo let me know the person in the wheelchair is he. No DOUBLE DOSE.

U may recognize his face as he showed up in Brazilian edition of the reality TV show, “Big Brother” and in some brands’ campaigns like Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch to name a few. The most famous one was he fronted with top models Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer in nude for Dolce & Gabanna fragrance campaign.(Tyson Ballou and Noah Mills were both in this ad as well). However, God play a bad joke on him when he was at his peak of his model career.

A serious car accident hurt his spine and left him paraplegic in 2009.

From model to role model
Have I mentioned that Fernandes is a sport crazier? Before the accident, he was studying Physical Education at a Rio local university, practicing boxing and traveling all over the country playing soccer in charity events.

“I was born for sport. Since I had the accident, I have been using sport to communicate to the world, and I want to change the physically fragile image disabled people have.” he said.

After the accident, he does more sports than before. Less than six months after the surgery, Fernandes completed the São Silvestre Marathon in his home city, racing for more than 15km in a wheelchair, even his hands were in flesh blood.

“It was perhaps the most important moment in my life,” said Fernandes. “In that race, I regained a sense of ability I thought I had lost. When I crossed the finishing line, I realised I could do anything I wanted.”

Now his is a two-time Pan American champion, three-time South American champion and four-time world champion in paracanoe and aims at Gold in Rio 2016 Paralympic.  

Moreover, he is dedicated to running the Fernando Fernandes Life Institute, which has the aim of promoting sport for people with a disability in Brazil. In his spare time, he continues his model career.

“I want to push boundaries, break paradigms and show the world that we have deficiency, but we also have efficiency, and the only difference is the way we do things. Now, I do things sitting, but the intensity is exactly the same.”

U may recognize his face before, but u will remember his name now. The Name represents the hero and role model, Fernando Fernandes.