WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — June is PTSD Awareness Month. Many of our veterans, particularly wounded veterans, are at risk.
The Wounded Warrior Project offers so many services for our veterans, including adaptive sports.
Imagine this, one moment you are healthy, athletic and serving our country. Then, in an instant, everything changes. That's what happened to Joel Rodriguez, but he's not letting a life-altering injury stop him from doing what he loves.
Joel Rodriguez enlisted in the army in 2009. He was stationed in Fort Rucker, Alabama in 2014 when he had a car accident driving back to base.
"Sustained a spinal cord injury at the C5-C6 area," Joel said. "The morning that I got hurt, I ran 5 miles. And before the day was over, I couldn't run anymore."
Joel wasn't even out of rehab when he was invited to watch a wheelchair rugby team practice.
"I can't even move my arms at this point and I see these guys and they're pushing up and down the court, banging on each other, flipping out of their chairs," Joel said. "And I look at my wife and I'm like, 'Oh I'm playing this.' And she looks at me and she's like, 'Absolutely not!'"
Joel has been playing since that time, and he's even won some medals. Now, he wants others to know just how important adaptive sports have been to his recovery.
"Mentally, it's huge because I'm around the people who've been around the same type of injury, who've gone through their rehab already, who've integrated back into their community," Joel said.
Mike Owens is the Adaptive Sports Director for the Wounded Warrior Project. He has seen adaptive sports change lives.
"From the time they arrive at the event, they're kind of solemn," Mike said. "They may be isolated, they don't really talk. And by the end of the event, I've seen individuals do a full 180. They are loud and boisterous and happy and just enjoying themselves and that's exactly what we want."
Joel believes wheelchair rugby has changed his life.
"A lot of us end up going through a depression because we don't have our sense of purpose," Joel said. "And adaptive sports or any adaptive venue, they'll give you that sense of purpose, and it will allow you to build that community."
Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization that offers a variety of services, not just adaptive sports.