Page 11 - Aerotech News and Review July 1 2016

Hometown Heroes
Navy veteran finds recovery, healing in water
by Sgt. Jon Soles
West Point, N.Y.
Katie Ray glides through the water, arms slic-
ing and feet kicking, churning a wake of bubbles
and ripples in the swimming pool at Arvin Gym.
She practices swim strokes, trying to improve her
time and technique, but what she’s really doing is had to learn to walk again,” Ray said. “They said
finding the person she used to be.
The Navy veteran is looking for healing and
recovery in the swimming pool and on the track
at the United States Military Academy at West
Point, N.Y., during the 2016 DOD Warrior Games
held June 15-21.
Ray has been an athlete for Team Navy since
2013. The games have been a major part of her
journey to become the person she was before a
traumatic brain injury took away nearly every-
thing, including her life.
“I was crushed because my life was ripped
away from me,” she said. “But I didn’t let it stop bor program. She jokingly calls it her “mistake”
me. I was very determined to be the person I
was.”
Ray served in the Navy for seven years as an
aviation electronics technician. The 29-year-old
lives in Winchester, Ky., but grew up in Palm-
dale, Calif., which was a hotbed for contractors
involved in the design and building military
aircraft. So it wasn’t a stretch for her when she
joined the Navy and trained to work in aviation
electronics.
“I worked on the C-9B plane from nose to tail,
everything electronics,” Ray said. “I knew my job
and I was good at it.”
Ray was happy with her job, and her life in
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July 1, 2016
the Navy. But that all ended when she suffered a suffered injuries or illness has been important for The road to recovery for wounded warriors
severe head injury. Part of her skull was removed, Ray. like Ray is a journey to overcome a body that
and later re-attached, to allow surgeons to per- is no longer whole. But thanks to the DOD War-
form multiple brain surgeries. She spent a month “We’re the same group, we’re all warriors,” rior Games and the support and spirit of friendly
in a coma and when she woke up with amnesia, Ray said. “It’s nice to know there are a lot more competition, Ray is steadily making her way back
she had to re-learn basic tasks. people just like me I can talk to.” to the person she was before.
“When I woke up, I was in a wheelchair and I Ray’s road to recovery includes self-improve- “You may not be able to do all of the things
ment through education. She is studying envi- you once did, and you may get really upset, be-
I could not walk, talk or think for myself.” ronmental science and natural resources at the cause you can’t do them,” Ray said. “But if you
University of Kentucky with the dream of becom- let it get the best of you, you can’t move on.”
Ray entered rehabilitation, physical and oc- ing a park ranger.
cupational therapy. She learned to walk and talk Army photograph by Sgt. John Solesa
again, but still struggles with cognitive impair-
ment caused by her brain injury. She said it’s as
if her brain sometimes can’t talk with the rest of
her body.
“The first year I did this, it looked like I was
going to drown, becuase of the whole issue of the
mind speaking to the body,” Ray said.
She found out about the Warrior Games
through the Navy Wounded Warrior — Safe Har-
to swim a mile and a half in almost nine minutes
flat. Her skill as a swimmer caught the attention
of the coaches, who thought she should compete
in the DOD Warrior Games. Ray said she had
always enjoyed swimming and calls the water her
“happy place.” Competing in the DOD Warrior
Games, a paralympic-type event for wounded,
ill or injured service members and veterans, has
brought Ray a new sense of recovery and com-
fort.
“It feels so wonderful that I can do these
sports,” she said. “I want to do this stuff, I can
do this stuff so don’t dismiss me.”
The camraderie with other warriors who have
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Aerotech News and Review 11
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