Mobility Way By Mike Savicki — Afterburner Communications NMEDA CONSULTANT
Up for the Challenge: Tampa’s Joel Rodriguez and his Warrior Spirit
U
pon meeting and chatting
always up for a challenge.
With his medals being just one
with Joel Rodriguez, it
Case and point? While it takes most
measure of competitive success, Joel
doesn’t take long to realize
he is something special. Sure, Joel’s energy and zest for making the most out of every day sets him apart from most. So, too, does his smile and overflowing joy when you see him together with his three year old son. And the relationship he and his wife share, one built on mutual respect, shared caregiving, plus just a bit of competitive support, is clearly evident, too.
newly spinal cord injured individuals years to get their footing and build confidence, let alone enter the world
has already racked up an overflowing armful, including two bronze and a silver (rugby, 100m race, discus)
of adaptive sports, Joel, 30, who
against the world’s Invictus best.
has been injured for only five years,
Speaking of roads, choices, and
recently finished his fifth season of
results, hearing Joel talk about
wheelchair rugby (the sport more
his path back to driving is wholly
commonly known as MURDEREBALL,
motivating and inspirational. Those of
where Joel, a C5,6, plays as a 1.0). And
us who use wheelchairs as a result of
the fact that he has already competed
a traumatic injury have experienced
in multiple National Veterans
(or at least heard stories of) that
Wheelchair Games, plus the Warrior
one less-than-optimistic doctor or
But what I think truly sets him apart
and Invictus Games (held in Florida
therapist who does his/her best to
as an Army veteran, a quadriplegic,
and Australia respectively), speaks
keep our expectations for life, living,
and as a human, is the fact that he is
volumes for the road he has chosen.
and independence as low as possible so as not to give false hope. Joel’s path back behind the wheel was fueled by one such individual. “I remember the day very well,” Joel shares, “when someone who was supposed to be helping me get back on the road said after I explained I wanted a truck, ‘I don’t think you’ll ever be able to make that transfer on your own’. My wife said, ‘You don’t know my husband,’ and that’s all it took.”
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NMEDA Circuit Breaker
