Tag: running

Joe Stone of Stratford, Connecticut, says he is running in the Hope & Possibility races to show other trauma survivors how being socially and physically active after injury can enhance one's quality of life significantly.

Joe Stone: Inspiring and motivating other trauma survivors

June 20, 2019

Gearing up for the 4th annual Achilles Connecticut Hope & Possibility® races presented by Cigna, we’re talking to athletes and guides to share stories about who they are and what brought them to our Chapter. Enjoy!

Joe Stone is a multisport athlete and coach who began handcycling with Achilles Connecticut in 2018. In this interview, the Stratford resident shares the hope (and possibilities) he’s cultivated in his own life since his spinal cord injury, and explains how he continually strives to use those experiences to inspire and help others.

How did you get involved with Achilles Connecticut?

As a wheelchair rugby athlete I was looking for a physical activity to keep me in shape through my off season. My good friend and schoolmate Claudio Cabrera, who is an adaptive athlete handcyclist for Achilles, suggested I give it a try. He sent me [Connecticut Chapter President] Erin Spaulding’s contact info and she took me under her wing from there. I now race as many events as I possibly can with the continuous help of Achilles CT Chapter leaders, volunteers and guides.

What’s one thing that you’ve never done, but would like to try?

Skydiving!

If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be?

A lion, because I think of myself as a brave leader.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

My wife’s Cool Bean Salad with tortilla chips…mmmmm!!!

What was your favorite subject in school and why?

Science. I love to research, experiment and understand how things work.

Who is your hero?

My daughter Heaven. Despite the tragedy and suffering she’s experienced in her short 14 years here on Earth, she has bounced back and become a resilient, empathic, and sweet young lady with the spirit of a true warrior!

Why are you running in the Hope & Possibility® races?

To show other trauma survivors how being socially and physically active after injury can enhance one’s quality of life significantly.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am truly blessed to have been given so many opportunities to grow and find out who I was always meant to be since becoming a quadriplegic seven years ago. One year after my injury, I met the love of my life and moved out of my 35-year comfort zone in Florida to Connecticut just to be with her. We married June 17, 2017. I’m now the captain of a national wheelchair rugby team here in Connecticut–the Gaylord Sports Association Jammers–and serve as a peer mentor for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients at Gaylord Hospital as well. I also founded and run the first SCI support group for Fairfield County. I enrolled in Gateway Community College in New Haven and am pursuing a career in therapeutic recreation (only one more semester left!).  I also landed a very rewarding basketball coaching job for Future Stars Sports Academy. Most recently, I also became a soccer dad to my youngest daughter, Joey (10). My mission is to inspire and motivate others to be socially and physically active no matter their circumstances so they can fully enjoy their own independence and autonomy.

The 4th annual Achilles Connecticut Hope & Possibility® races presented by Cigna take place on July 21 in Bloomfield, Connecticut. To register, visit https://www.hartfordmarathon.com/achilles-ct-hope-possibility-run/

To make a donation to Achilles Connecticut to help offset the costs of disabled athletes’ race registration fees and equipment, visit http://achillesct.everydayhero.do/

Meet Three-time Survivor and Achilles Athlete, Gail Bruno

June 21, 2018

Milford resident won’t let her new disabilities define her

Achilles Connecticut athlete Gail Bruno has earned the title “Survivor” – several times over.

As a 20-something, Gail sustained a head-and-neck injury in the workplace. Recovery involved nine months of therapy.

Flash forward to September 11, 2001. Gail had recently arrived to her workplace. The Twin Towers, on the morning that they were devastated by two hijacked airplanes. She survived, but was emotionally traumatized.

Though the Milford resident was athletic growing up (including playing on her high school’s basketball and field hockey teams) she only discovered running later in life. On her 40th birthday, Gail made a wish on her birthday cake that she would one day complete a half marathon. That fall, she ran her first half marathon (Gulf Beach in Milford), followed by the SoNo Half (South Norwalk). Followed by a winter of training outside in snow, ice, freezing rain and whatever else could be dished up in the northeast climate.

On April 1, 2017, Gail says, “My dream finally came true, when I completed the Savin Rock full Marathon, just shy of my 42nd birthday, with my husband, sister and children present!”

But then, just two weeks after the race, while out on a training run, Gail was struck by an SUV.

Recovery and Achilles

Gail sustained multiple, severe injuries from the accident: a traumatic brain injury (TBI), sprained limbs, a shattered wrist, neck-and back- injuries, severe bruising, and chipped knee and leg bones.

For six months, she was unable to walk. She eventually graduated to walking with a cane. In spring of 2018, she progressed to running. One positive outcome from her situation, though, was an introduction to the Connecticut Chapter of Achilles International, which strives to enable people with all types of disabilities and medical conditions to participate in mainstream run/walk events.

“My therapist suggested that I look into Achilles,” she says. “My goal was to get active again, and I had seen Achilles athletes and guides at the New York City Marathon. I’m excited that they can support me in my goals!”

Hope and Possibility

Since that introduction, Gail has finished the Milford Hospital Live Well 5k with her running partner. Her summer race agenda includes the Achilles Hope and Possibility® four-miler in New York City, and Achilles Connecticut Hope & Possibility® Presented by Cigna in Bloomfield, CT. All on top of ongoing therapy and, with her husband, John, raising two young children and running a Milford music shop (Rt. 1 Guitars).

When asked why she’s running Hope & Possibility, Gail responds, “I don’t want my new disabilities to define me. I was a marathoner, and I can be one again.”

Achilles Connecticut Hope & Possibility® Presented by Cigna will take place in Bloomfield, Connecticut on Sunday July 22nd. Courses include a 5k run or walk, a 10k and the kids’ fun runs. Register here.

Achilles Member/Author Colleen Kelly Alexander Shares Her Story of ‘Gratitude’

June 14, 2018

Connecticut athlete who defied odds to speak at July Achilles Connecticut events

On race courses, Colleen Kelly Alexander prefers to blend in with the other athletes who are giving it their all. Her backstory is an extraordinary one – an athlete who, by all logic, should have died in a horrific accident on a road in Madison, CT. These days, Alexander gives back in a multitude of ways, including penning her inspirational book, Gratitude In Motion: A True Story of Hope, Determination, and the Everyday Heroes Around Us.

Achilles Connecticut member and author to discuss her book

Gratitude in Motion

On October 8, 2011, Colleen was struck by a truck that ran through a stop sign. Run over by both the vehicle’s front and back wheels, from which she sustained serious organ damage, Colleen should have slipped out of consciousness. Instead, she fought. Having previously served as a medic, she said in an interview, “I knew that if I was unconscious, my chances of survival were much less.”

She also noted that a “hero” on the scene called 911 and spread his arms out to protect her from getting run over again. “I am alive because countless people circled my body and gave me cardiopulmonary resuscitations. I needed 80 units of blood.”

Honoring Everyday Heroes
Colleen was in a coma for more than five weeks following the accident. She flatlined twice, and  required 30 surgeries. Recovery was painful, involving physical therapy and wound care that first allowed her to use a walker, and then creep up to unassisted walking.

But the prizes she aimed for were her loves: running, biking and swimming. Also, giving back, in appreciation of the “village” that had helped her at the scene of the accident, in the hospital, and during recovery. “I realized we’re all a human family, we’re all brothers and sisters,” she said. “I started to understand the magnitude of how strong I can be, because we’re all in this together.”

In 2013, with the assistance of Achilles International, a nonprofit running club that helps disabled individuals participate in mainstream sports, Colleen competed in races – including her first half-Ironman since the accident, and the New York City Half Marathon. Today, she’s a regular on the race circuit, but gives away her medals in honor of “the everyday heroes around us.”

On Saturday, July 21, Colleen will tell her story at a 5:30 PM book signing event, to be held in the Windsor Room at the Hartford/Windsor Marriott, 28 Day Hill Rd, Windsor, CT. RSVP here.

On Sunday, July 22, Colleen will be the honoree at the Achilles CT Hope & Possibility ® 5K/10K / fitness walk /kids run presented by Cigna, to be held at the Metropolitan Learning Center, 1551 Blue Hills Avenue, Bloomfield, CT.  Register here.

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