Tye Dutcher was just trying to play a joke on his dad. 

"He was sitting on his lawnmower and I was going to scare him," Tye said. "I snuck up behind him and stumbled just as he was putting it into reverse. That's how I lost my right foot."

Remarkably, though, Tye chose to view the accident as a blessing. 

Just 11-years-old at the time, Tye remembers coming out of his first surgery as an amputee and talking with his mom.

"I know this happened for a reason," he told her. "I have a greater purpose now."

Dutcher originally wanted to join the military and follow in the footsteps of his older siblings... but as an amputee he was no longer able to. 

So he found a new way to represent his country: setting records as a Paralympic Swimmer for Team USA.

Tye (who has a solid beard, by the way) is currently training for the Olympics next year in Tokyo, but he was kind enough to give us a few minutes of his time to talk about his insatiable motivation for life, his mentality of serving others, and how to live each day with purpose.