Keynote Address: Monday, February 21, 2010
In December 2006, Chad was commanding a convoy in Northern Iraq,
riding in front in a light medium tactical vehicle. Suddenly, there
was a loud boom and flash of light when his truck hit and anti-tank
mine. He recalls, “I had this calm realization, ‘This is it. I’m along
for the ride.’ The next thing I knew, I was hanging outside the
truck.” In an instant, his right femur was broken and his heel
shattered.
Quickly, Chad was flown back to his base at Camp Speicher, where
surgeons attached an external fixator consisting of four pins and an
external rod to his mangled leg. Soon he was moved to Germany and
eventually the William Beaumont Army Medical Center, in El Paso,
Texas.
Over the next few months, he would undergo four surgeries to repair
his leg. But when MRSA, a resistant staph infection, set in, Chad had
to decide between yet another operation with a cadaver bone or
amputation below the knee. He says, “I was very opposed at first,
however after talking to some amputee climbers I realized I was making
the decision between being an amputee or a cripple. I promptly chose
to get rid of my foot.”
An active climber before joining the Army, only six weeks after the
amputation, and one day after receiving his first prosthesis, Chad
went climbing in a rock gym. It was a struggle at first, requiring a
lot of hard work and learning about how deal with his new reality.
Chad now feels, “I am mentally stronger now than I was before. The
experience has strengthened my resolve to get out and climb.”
That resolve has led Chad to the summit of Mount Rainier (14,411
feet), up Bridal Veil Falls, a 365-foot ice climb with Erik
Weihenmayer, and most recently to the summit of Lobuche (20,017 feet)
in Nepal. He is an active volunteer with Paradox Sports, an
organization that helps disabled athletes experience the outdoors. He
says, “It’s a great group, and I’m looking forward to continued
involvement so I can help other people with disabilities experience
the same thing. Getting into the outdoors is a great confidence
builder for anyone with a disability. It helps to restore self
confidence, pride, and independence.”
