SAN ANTONIO (March 10, 2014) -- Sgt. Jen Lees resilient recovery from a motorcycle accident landed him a berth on Team USAs sled hockey team for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Lee, a goalie in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Paralympic Program, is the first active-duty Soldier selected for a U.S. Paralympic winter sports team. He was honored July 29, as Hero of the Day by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command. He also was one of three World Class Athlete Program, or WCAP, athletes featured on posters promoting the Army Strong B.A.N.D.S. campaign. Also featured were Paralympic hopefuls Staff Sgt. Steve Bosson for archery, and Spc. Elizabeth Wasil, for swimming. Lee has come a long way since a day in March 2009, when he thought all his athletic aspirations came screeching to a halt on the asphalt of Interstate 95 north in Jacksonville, Fla. He was enjoying a Saturday afternoon fun ride with his platoon sergeant and three other squad leaders, headed back to Savannah, Ga., where he was stationed at Fort Stewarts Hunter Army Airfield. I was in the right lane and there was a lady in the middle lane, Lee recalled. She just happened to change her lane, but didnt see me. She tried to correct her vehicle, but it fishtailed and came back and hit me, and that was the end of it. I saw the car coming, but I just froze. Little did Lee know that one frozen moment eventually would lead him to the loftiest spot of his athletic life, protecting a net atop a frozen pond with his lightning-quick reflexes, as a goaltender for the Team USA Sled Hockey Team. I was definitely conscious, so I knew that I wasnt dying, Lee said of his life-altering accident. But I knew right away, when I was still lying on the grass after the collision, I was going to lose at least below my knee. He was medically evacuated to a nearby hospital and eventually transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he rehabilitated. In the beginning, it was very depressing, said Lee, who described himself prior to the accident as being a very energized, Hooah! Hooah! Energizer Bunny kind of Soldier. I did very well in physical training, he said. I ran six-minute miles and stuff like that. I also played a lot of basketball. So, obviously, when I lost my leg, I never pictured myself playing basketball or hockey or even walking again, or running. I definitely went through that stage. Lee also had to battle inner demons, because his was not a combat-related injury. Because it was an accident and it wasnt from combat, I wasnt able to relate it with Soldiers, he explained. That made it really hard. It was definitely a very sad or kind of dark stage I had to go through, until I was transferred here to San Antonio. Nearly five months later, Lee received permanent change of station orders to report to Brooke Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston, and his spirit almost simultaneously responded. The first day I came here, I got on one of those public transportation that drives you around on base, and I saw three amputees, one of the them happened to be missing both legs, and they had smiles on their faces and were going on with their lives, Lee recalled. Thats when I knew that I would be OK. His next stop was the Center for the Intrepid, where he completed rehab in late 2010. During that stint, Lee dabbled with several rehabilitative options. One of them, obviously, happened to be sled hockey, he said with a grin. I had tried wheelchair basketball and different kinds of adaptive sports before sled hockey, but I knew this was going to be different, and I knew this was probably the sport I was going to fall in love with. And I did, again. Lee had played inline hockey in the San Francisco Bay Area as a freshman at Oceana High School in Pacifica, Calif., but thought those days were done. He graduated from Westmoor High in Daly City, Calif., where he played basketball, baseball, tennis and ran cross country and track. I told my wife, I havent even put on a skate or touched a puck since freshman year of high school, he said. I was definitely excited and nervous at the same time. As soon as I got on the ice, I was just like wow! He connected with Operation Comfort and began playing with the military veteran-laden San Antonio Rampage Sled Hockey Team in 2009 and by 2010 worked his way onto Team USA. I made that 2010 team, and next thing you know I found out that the WCAP has a program for Paralympians, as well, Lee explained the athletic support he received from the U.S. Army. I got the letter of recommendation from my coaches, WCAP accepted me, and Ive been in the program since last year.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:40:19 +0000
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