SPARKS — In 1993, during the war between Bosnia and Croatia, a mortar shell landed in a courtyard and exploded a few feet away from 16-year-old Maja Kazazic, killing six of her friends and shattering her lower legs. The Bosnian teen's dreams ended with the attack.

"When the war started, I was going to be a pro athlete," Kazazic, 32, said on Thursday in her hotel room at John Ascuaga's Nugget. "But shit happens."

After the attack, Kazazic was evacuated to Germany then to the United States for medical treatment. Due to infection, attempts to save her lower left leg failed, forcing an amputation just below her left knee. Her right leg required numerous skin grafts from other parts of her body to repair the damage to her remaining calf and foot.

But now, her life has taken a promising turn.

Thanks to the latest in prosthetics, Kazazic is again athletic. On Thursday, she demonstrated a piece of the latest gear at the annual Hanger Prosthetic Convention running through Sunday at John Ascuaga’s Nugget.

"You are actually one with the leg," Kazazic said, showing off her prototype "V Hold" electronic prosthetic. The high-tech device provides a more comfortable fit and a stable platform for running, tennis and golf. Now, Kazazic said she can run up to 5 miles per hour for 45 minutes.

Kazazic said she wants to help her countrymen who lost limbs in the war benefit from the advances in prosthetic technology. Painful, outdated, wooden limbs are still the norm for Bosnians without the money or connections to buy expensive devices. Kazazic hopes discarded prosthetics can be reused to help war victims in her native country. She's hoping to coordinate with the Hanger Ivan R. Sobel Foundation, the charity arm of Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc.

"We're encouraging her (Kazazic) to put together a grant request," said Jennifer Bittner, public relations director for Hanger. Bittner said the foundation was created to "provide sustainable orthotics and prosthetics in developing countries,” and this week launched a fundraiser for the earthquake victims in Haiti. Used orthotics and prosthetics can be donated for Haitians at Hanger's patient care centers across the country including the local centers in Reno and Carson City, Bittner said. The devices are cleaned and repaired before shipment to Haiti. For more information, go to www.hanger-sabelfoundation.org.

Kazazic is planning her own event, to be called "Walk the World,” to help raise funds to grow and modernize the Bosnian prosthetics industry. Sometime later this year, Kazazic said she'll walk the Bosnian coast, a distance of about 60 miles from Mostar to Beum. She hopes that funds raised by the event could help train Bosnian prostheticians in the latest prosthetics technology.

"Hopefully, I can raise money for a local prosthetic company," Kazazic said. "My father was a nurse and started a small neighborhood hospital."

Kazazic said she found inspiration from an unusual source: a fellow amputee who lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, Fla. When Winter was a young, wild dolphin, she was snared in a crab trap. A fisherman rescued her but her tail was lost as a result of the accident. A prosthetic tail, made from a soft and stretchy material, was designed for the animal. The new material was applied to human prosthetics adding comfort and security to prosthetic limbs, Kazazic said. She showed off cushioning "socks" made of the same material worn between her stump and the prosthetic.

Kazazic shared photos of her swims with Winter complete with her prosthetic tail. The dolphin, who couldn't be released back to the wild, doesn't perform but does welcome visitors.

Kazazic runs her own consulting firm, called Vela Business Solutions, providing certified amputee peer counseling, motivational speaking and business process management. Her motto is "Life Unlimited". For more information, contact Kazazic at info@MajaKazazic.com or go to her website at www.velabusinesssolutions.com.