Veterans honored on the slopes

Some injured heroes took to the slopes at Hoodoo Mountain Resort on Saturday, through Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS).

This is the third year OAS has sponsored a special event for disabled veterans injured during or after their military service. The vets had everything from brain injuries to amputations, loss of eyes, paraplegia, and loss of limbs. Several were referred by the Portland VA Hospital.

"There are so many people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, let's give them a ski day," said Kevin McCormack, vice president of the board for OAS.

However, after talking to the vets OAS realized they couldn't just limit the event to just young people. This year's 18 participants ranged in age from 21 to 81.

McCormack himself was injured skiing six years ago.

"That's how I got involved in the group," he said. "The most important thing is to provide the spark back to people who have been through a tragedy. Skiing provides a sense of accomplishment.

"We want to do more than give them a therapeutic experience. We want to show our appreciation of what they've done for us and that they matter and that what they've done matters."

Amber Blanchard, of Bend Parks and Recreation, was an integral part of this weekend's event, and along with McCormack came up with the idea for "Heroes."

The vets started their weekend with a meet-and-greet, sponsored by Three Creeks Brewing Company in Sisters, where they got to share stories and have a few brews with friends and family.

Sisters Kiwanis contributed $1,500, as did the Wounded Warriors Project. Ray's Food Place in Sisters provided $350 for lunches, and Hoodoo provided all the lift tickets for participants and volunteers, as well as dinner for the evening.

Volunteer instructors secured them in their gear, showing participants how to use the equipment before they hit the slopes. Seventy percent of this year's participants were first-time skiers.

Veteran Dennis Hooper, of Rogue River, was in the landscaping business when he fell out of a tree, his injuries leaving him wheelchair bound. Hooper spent three years in the army as an attack helicopter repairman.

"You might want to look down at your feet at first," instructed his coach, Ervin Richards, "but you need to look down the hill. Find that flat ski to pivot."

Twenty-two-year-old Mar-ine Jeremiah Carlisle is a Lance Corporal who walks with a walker. He had a stroke two years ago after returning from Iraq, where he drove convoy trucks. Miraculously, he can walk. After his stroke, the prognosis was grim.

Doctors told his father, Ed, that all Jeremiah would ever be able to do was blink his eyes. Ed will never forget the day his wife said, "we serve a bigger God than that."

Their faith paid off. CT scan results changed overnight. Jeremiah has been able to put away his wheelchair and can eat on his own. Talking is coming back slowly.

Today was Jeremiah's first time skiing, although he has done other sports like soccer and wakeboarding since his injury.

"Something like this gets him out and active," his father said. "Especially now that he's out (of active service), all of his friends have split up."

Bob Forson, born in 1929, was the oldest skier this weekend. In the Navy during the Korean War, he developed MS from DDT chemical exposure while he was in the service.

Forson taught skiing in his younger days.

"The last time I skied here was 30 some years ago before I was in a wheelchair," Forson said.

Forson can still walk, but not far. He has gradually been going downhill for the past 20 years.

"We hope to come up here. I have a family of skiers; my son has 11 children, and they all ski," he said.

There were at least two volunteers assisting every veteran on Saturday. Volunteer Adam Drummer signed up because he was unemployed when he first arrived in Oregon.

"I love helping people out," Drummer commented. "I volunteered a few years ago as part of a college class. My mom is also a special ed teacher, so I guess I have a special feel for it."

Volunteer Amy Romero, who assisted Veteran Kevin Pannell, also started volunteering as a result of being unemployed.

"A lot of my motivation was to get on the hill and to get other people on the hill," Romero said. "It (volunteering) is a good thing to do to get out of the house."

A sign at Hoodoo quotes an old English Proverb: "A hero is a person who is afraid to run away." Kevin Pannell of Portland continues every day to be a hero and an inspiration after his injury. Trapped in a narrow alleyway six years ago in Baghdad, he didn't run away.

Pannell was in the Army First Cavalry Unit in Baghdad when he was hit by two grenades in an ambush on June 13, 2004. He lost both his legs, one from the knee down, one above the knee. He wears prosthetics on both legs.

Pannell remembers every second of the ambush.

"The accident changed my life," he said. "I didn't really appreciate life before, and now I do. I was in a coma for nine days. I didn't realize anyone could be in so much pain and survive."

"We were in a narrow alley," Pannell said, "and they were trying to manipulate us by throwing a grenade into the back of the column to initiate an ambush. He was so close, I could see every line in his face, and I could see the black boo boo on his shirt. There were actually three of them. There was a guy on each side of me, each with a grenade. But I couldn't see them clearly, I just saw this one man, face to face.

"When I was hit, I fell to the ground. My one leg was twisted off and the other had a hole in it. Somehow I managed to stand up, and my leg was hanging by a thread and just felt like Jell-O, but there was no pain. The pain didn't start until they put a tourniquet on my leg. I bled eight units of blood and thought I was going to die. I was pretty calm. Death just seemed like the logical next step.

"For a long time," Pannell said, "I tried to project all that hate onto him (the man who hit him). Then I thought, he believed in his cause, too, just like I believed in mine. I can't hate him for that. As soon as I let go of that, my pain went away. I meet so many guys who are still so angry. Once you let that go, it opens your eyes and makes you so empathetic to everything going on in the world."

Pannell, who has been a rafting guide, is Program Director for Oregon Active Foundation, which takes 18- to 39-year-olds, people with disabilities and at-risk youth, on hiking and fishing expeditions.