Houston's Mark Barr competes in Paralympics

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- With the 2016 Olympics in the books, it's time for the 2016 Paralympic Games to kick off in Rio De Janeiro. Thousands of athletes from around the world will be battling it out in the same venues where the Olympics were held just weeks ago, including Houston's own Mark Barr.

Barr competed in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 as a swimmer but never reached the podium. However, that could change during the Paralympic Games when the para-triathlon makes its debut.

At 14 years old, Barr, then an avid swimmer who also played football and baseball, developed a form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma in his leg. His treatment included a year of chemotherapy and lung surgery, and he had to get his right leg above the knee amputated. However, that hasn't stopped him from living life to the fullest. When Barr isn't training or competing in sporting events, he is busy as a registered nurse in the trauma surgical ICU at Ben Taub.

He will be competed in first ever Paralympic Games para-triathlon on Saturday morning and came in 4th place.