Local amputee gunning for gold at military’s Warrior Games

NEWPORT NEWS

Sgt. Daniel Lopez's hour-long swim at the Fort Eustis Aquatic Center pool came after several miles on a bike around post with his son, Daniel Lopez Jr.

He wore out the 9-year-old.

And he did it all with one leg.

Lopez, 31, is assigned to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Eustis, and he's training for the first Warrior Games this week in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Unlike some of his competitors, from other branches of the military, he's had no formal training for the games, but he has faith he'll win at least one medal.

"I'm shooting for gold," he said and smiled. "Ask anyone in my family though and they expect four."

In 2006, Lopez was home after a year's deployment in Iraq and on leave visiting his family in Brentwood, N.Y.

On Nov. 13, he and a friend were driving back to Fort Story when they got a flat tire on the New Jersey Turnpike. Unable to pull off on the right shoulder, he stopped on the left shoulder. While checking the flat, he was struck by a vehicle.

"I was on the road 30 minutes before an ambulance came," Lopez said. "My friend did a really good job taking care of me."

The only injury was to his right leg.

"There were no other scratches on me," he said.

He stayed in a New Jersey hospital for about two weeks and had half a dozen surgeries, he said. The hospital staff wanted him to get him home to Portsmouth for Christmas with his wife and children. He arrived home Dec. 20.

During the next few months he had more than a dozen surgeries to try to save his leg.

While deciding whether to have his leg amputated, he called his uncle, who was an amputee.

"I remembered him being in pain all the time," Lopez said.

But his uncle assured him that times had changed and prosthetics had improved.

On May 15, 2008, nearly two years after the crash, his right leg was amputated.

Lopez was transferred from Fort Story to Fort Eustis to focus on his rehabilitation with the Warrior Transition Unit.

A new aquatics program at the Anderson Field House at Fort Eustis drew him to the pool.

"I fell into doing a few laps after the therapy," he said.

A few laps became a daily routine that caught people's attention.

"He's the most amazing person I've met in my entire life," said Amanda Cull, a lifeguard at the Anderson Field House. "He's very disciplined."

On a lark, Lopez joined a lifeguard training class being taught by a friend.

"He let me try, just for giggles," Lopez said.

Now a certified lifeguard, he's considering a lifeguard instructor class.

"He's the first one-legged lifeguard I've ever met," Cull said. "He's more physical than people I know with two legs."

His athleticism, he said, comes from his family. His grandfather was still putting on roofs at 88 years old. His father was a track star and his uncle, the amputee, was always very driven.

"I had no excuse," Lopez said.

His discipline also helped earn him a place in the Warrior Games, where 200 wounded, injured and ill service members from all branches of the military will compete in seven sports.

Lopez will compete in the 50-meter backstroke and relay swim, sitting volleyball and a 10K bike ride.

He was one of 100 chosen from a pool of 9,000 soldiers to compete for the Army. The other 100 competitors are coming from the Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy. He's the only competitor from Hampton Roads, according to a spokeswoman for the Warrior Games.

Lopez left for Colorado this weekend. His wife, Reneé, and their three children will cheer him on from Williamsburg.

The Warrior Games begin today with opening ceremonies at 5 p.m. and end Friday.

Lauren King, (757) 446-2309,lauren.king@pilotonline.com