By Shomial Ahmad
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
When Army Sgt. Orlando Gill lost his right leg from a direct hit of a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq, he didn’t think that he would be playing sports again.
Four months later, in the beginning of 2005, he was snowboarding using his prosthetic right leg.
This weekend, Bronx-born Gill will be water-skiing in Jamaica Bay.
At the Adaptive Water Sports Festival, which starts tomorrow and runs through the weekend, volunteers from the New York City Fire Department will be teaching or assisting close to three dozen wounded soldiers in water-skiing, scuba diving and sailing in the Rockaways.
While Gill, 33, who now lives in Suitland, Md., does not know how to swim, he will, nevertheless participate in the event. Last year, the first time the event was held, Gill was nervous because he had never water-skied before. He fell off his water skis twice, but by his third attempt, he was slicing through the water.
“What’s the worst that can happen? I already lost a leg,” said Gill, recalling his experience. “I should live a life full of challenges.”
The festival is part of the physical and psychological rehabilitation of soldiers with life-changing wounds, some of whom are blind or have amputations, according to event organizers. For many, it’s their first time leaving the hospital.
Disabled Sports USA, a nonprofit veterans organization based in Rockville, Md., and an event’s organizer, has arranged such events for soldiers wounded in Iraq since 2003. The activities are coordinated with the soldiers’ treatments at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland and Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas.
The outdoor activities helped soldiers return to therapy with a renewed sense of purpose, said Disabled Sports officials.
Some of the 435 soldiers who have participated in the sporting events have gone on to run in marathons, Harvey Naranjo, a therapist at Walter Reed said.
“You can’t sugarcoat it; they’re going through a real crisis in their lives,” said Kirk Bauer, executive director of Disabled Sports. “These sports enable them to immediately see that they can be active.”
Last week President George W. Bush jogged around the White House with a double amputee, and in his Independence Day speech at Fort Bragg, he singled out a wounded soldier.
Army Lt. John Fernandez, from Shoreham, is one such soldier.
Fernandez’ legs were amputated below the knee when a vehicle near him exploded in April 2003 in Iraq. Fernandez, 28, recently played at a West Point alumni lacrosse game and scored two goals. He, too, will be at the weekend events.
Playing sports, he said, gives him “the confidence to reach higher.”