On December 13, 2013, Lt. Cmdr. Jaime Sigala fell and fractured his lower left leg. Unfortunately, after multiple surgeries, his doctor gave him the difficult news that his leg needed to be amputated below the knee.
“My whole world came tumbling down,” Sigala said. “How do I go from a broken leg to you have to cut my leg off? How did this happen?”
Even now, more than a year later, he still gets choked up talking about it. He says it was a shot to his self-worth.
As the weapons officer at Naval Special Warfare Logistic Support Unit 2 (LOGSU-2) in Virginia Beach, Virginia, he was concerned that being an amputee would jeopardize his career. His chain of command, however, reassured him that they would support him.
“I can’t say how much relief I had after that,” he said. “I grew up in the Navy…and I didn’t want to leave like that. I wanted to…finish my career on my terms.”
Before long, he was up walking and discovered a nonprofit organization called Ride 2 Recovery (www.ride2recovery.com), which helps injured service members and veterans by providing them with bicycles and training them to ride.
After training and participating in a six-day challenge ride, Sigala was sent to the Warrior Games selection camp. The Warrior Games (www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0615_warriorgames) is an annual event put on by the Department of Defense where injured, ill, and wounded service members and veterans compete in Paralympic sporting events. Sigala qualified and competed in a 30-kilometer race on June 21. Although his bike broke twice, he finished the race in 56 minutes and 46 seconds.
Though frustrated and disappointed by his performance because of the bike malfunctions, he was able to keep everything in perspective.
“I look back a year ago, and I couldn’t even walk,” he said. “Now here I am. I just finished a race. I did it on my own, and I’m pretty proud of that.”
This article was based on an original story by Petty Officer 1st Class Tony DeFilippo.
Additional Adaptive Sports Programs
Military Adaptive Sports Program
http://tinyurl.com/osdyfyf
National Veterans Wheelchair Games
www.wheelchairgames.org
Valor Games
www.va.gov/opa/speceven/valor_games
