TheBright.com Paradox Sports 9-11 Veterans Climb

TheBright.com has teamed up with Paradox Sports to offer US Military Veterans who have suffered injuries on and off the battlefield the opportunity to inspire millions of Americans by overcoming their challenges and climbing mountains throughout the country.

Our inagural climb, the TheBright.com Paradox Sports 9-11 Veterans Climb, had such a positive impact with active duty and retired military personnel we have decided to add additional annual climbs to our schedule. Browse below to learn more about how the first climb went!

Click here to visit the Salt Lake Tribue and watch a video about the 9-11 veterans climb.

Click here to visit the Denver Post and read about the 9-11 veterans climb.

Click here to listen to one of our heroes, Nico Maroulis talk about the climb on myFOX Austin Television.

Click here to visit ESPN.com and read about the 9-11 veterans climb and participating climbers.

Click here to listen to one of our heroes, Chad Jukes talk about the climb on Utah Public Radio.

Click here to visit the Telluride Daily Planet and read about the 9-11 veterans climb.

Click here to visit the Atlanta Journal and read about the 9-11 veterans climb.

Click here to read an interview with Nicollete Maroulis about the climb on Wandering Educators.

Nicolette Maroulis Read what Nicolette said about the climb »

Dealing with intense emotions in an actionable way allowed me to take back September 11th. It is not just the remembrance of that tragic day 11 years ago. Now it is also the day that I was able to summit with my fellow veterans. It allowed us to take that day back. Healing didn't come from the summit. It started at the trailhead and will continue on for many other trails. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to push our limits and our healing. I hope that Paradox sports and TheBright.com will continue to work together to offer healing, inspiration an motivation to the numerous veterans that need to take back their life and reconfirm their identity.

- Nicolette Maroulis

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It was Sept. 12, 2001 – a day after the United States was attacked by terrorists – that Nicolette Maroulis, 35, joined the Navy. She felt compelled to do something. In the Navy, she went on to become a K9 handler of a bomb sniffing dog. Nicolette doesn’t focus on the day she was injured in 2003, or how. She’s recovering from traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, nerve damage, hip, shoulder, leg, knee and back injuries. She has had many surgeries to remove shrapnel from her shoulders and legs.

Doctors weren’t sure that she would walk again. She spent three and half years in a wheelchair. After relearning to walk, she’s now climbing mountains and racing hand-cycles across the country. Outdoors sports have taught Nicolette how to push herself “beyond even what I think I can do.” While participating, she “feels alive. I’m whole again,” she said.

Nicolette has come to the conclusion that the best way to honor those who didn’t make it back “is to really live.” Climbing Grand Teton is a great way to take the time to think about all those people who lost their lives on Sept. 11, and all those people who stepped forward to protect our country, she said.

Andrew Sullens Read what Andrew said about the climb »

"It takes great risks to achieve great victories," is an old saying that someone wrote a long time ago that has become somewhat of a creed of mine. Climbing the Grand Teton once again refined that hypothesis for me. The most important thing I take from the Grand cannot be bought with money or measured by social status. It is these unforgettable moments with irreplaceable friends that I took from that mountain and a glimmer of hope that maybe our story touches someone's life and spurs them to action.

- Andrew Sullens

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Andrew Sullens, 26, served four years as a 3rd Class Petty Officer in the US Navy and three years as an infantry solider in the Georgia Army National Guard stationed in Dalton, Ga. In April 2009, his unit was deployed to Afghanistan. Returning from a combat mission on May 17 that year, his convoy was hit by an IED embedded in a culvert. The blast ejected Andrew from the gun turret and he suffered a laundry list of injuries. He spent five months at Walter Reed Medical Army Center in Washington, DC and then at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Hospital in Augusta, Ga.

Doctors saved his mangled right leg, and he received a medical discharge. But after he went back to patrol duty and the SWAT team for the Lumpkin Co. Sherriff’s Office, he decided to have his right leg amputated below the knee to maintain his active lifestyle.

The Grand Teton climb will be Sullen’s highest ascent yet. We all have “crosses to bear” whether it’s a missing limb or not you can adapt to climb a mountain or overcome any adversity, he said.

Chad Jukes Read what Chad said about the climb »

Climbing a mountain is an astoundingly therapeutic experience that fosters both a sense of self-reliance, as well as one of mutual support and beneficial dependence upon a team. When a soldier comes home, especially injured, many feel that they have lost these traits since they are no longer with their military team, and they feel broken. When climbing I always develop a greater resilience and a higher level of devotion to those around me. These, coupled with a greater sense of independence, are very important traits to foster for people with disabilities. I would like to thank My Bright Mountain for their support in making this amazing expedition happen, and I look forward to working with Paradox Sports and My Bright Mountain in 2013 and beyond to make opportunities like the ones I have had available to more Veterans and civilians with disabilities so they can experience the same self growth and personal fulfillment that I have felt!

- Chad Jukes

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It was Dec. 17, 2006 when Chad Jukes, 28, was in the passenger side of truck commanding a security convoy in Northern Iraq when an IED detonated underneath it. The next thing he knew he was hanging outside the truck with a broken femur bone and a shattered heel. Chad was flown back to his base at Camp Speicher, where surgeons worked to repair his leg. Soon he was moved to Germany and then to William Beaumont Army Medical Center, in El Paso, Texas. There were multiple surgeries, talk of a long recovery and a lot of pain with little physical activity. That’s when MRSA – a dangerous resistant staph infection – set in.

He decided that he “would rather be an amputee than a cripple.” On March 21, 2007, he had his right leg below the knee removed. Chad calls it one of the most important decisions of his life. Only six weeks after the amputation, and one day after receiving his first prosthesis, he went climbing in a rock gym.

The United States was built on the principle of personal strength, perseverance, work with and trusting others, he said. What better symbol of perseverance than injured veterans climbing Grand Teton – it’s a level of commitment not many people attain. And it’s a great example of the American spirit.

Michael Kirby Read what Michael said about the climb »

On Sept. 11, 2001 a tragic event changed the lives of everyone in the world. We left our regular lives, our families and friends to answer the call and hopefully make a positive difference. We went to war not because we agreed or even because we knew exactly what was going on, but to serve with other heroic human beings. Some of us did not come back the same. Badly broken we strive everyday to put the pieces back together. Every day was full of defeat and victories, but no matter what, we never gave up. Doctors told us we would never do things like we used to, but we did them anyway. We learned to adapt and overcome our physical, mental and psychological barriers. We may have been told we could never climb a mountain like the one we climbed and even with the strong wind and the cold and the bad ice conditions as they were, together we climbed the Grand Teton on Sept. 11, 2012! The powerful energy bringing people together and uniting as one, gave us an experience unlike anything I've ever had! To unite great organizations together like My Bright Mountain, Paradox Sports, Catalyst and Exum Mountain Guides allows us to make a powerful dream come true! That is what climbing is all about.

- Michael Kirby (x) close this window

Michael Kirby, 35, spent 12 years as an Army Ranger, serving three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He was honorably discharged from the Army in August 2011 and went on to become a mountain guide with Exum Mountain Guides in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Michael was injured after his first season with Exum, after getting caught in vicious snowstorm at 14,000 feet in elevation with his climbing partner. After about 30 hours of exposure, he sustained severe frostbite to his right foot. On Dec. 1, doctors amputated it.

Michael will be one of the guides on the Grand Teton climb.

You can learn more about Mike Kirby at exumguides.com.

Michael Abbey

Michael Abbey, 36, has guided for Exum Mountain Guides for about seven years. He served in the Marine Corps with Force Recon and was a Mountain Warfare specialist. He served one tour in Iraq, and he has extensive climbing experience. Michael also is an Alpine and backcountry ski instructor.

He will be a co-guide on the Grand Teton veterans climb.

Eric Gray

Eric graduated from the University of Georgia in 2004 with a degree in recreation therapy. Following graduation, he moved to Park City, Utah and worked three years for the National Ability Center where he taught people with disabilities how to ski, snowboard, canoe, climb, horseback, cross-country ski, cycle and water-ski. Eric then received his clinical experience working for the VA hospital in Augusta, Ga. While working in the Active Duty Rehab Unit, he started a Team River Runner Chapter for kayaking, expanded the cycling program along with helping develop a tandem cycling program. In addition, he helped start the first adaptive climbing program at a VA hospital.

He is founder of Catalyst Sports, a nonprofit group whose mission is to provide the highest level of adaptive sports for the disabled community. Eric will help guide the Grand Teton veterans climb.

Timmy O'Neill

Timmy O'Neill is a record-breaking professional climber who has been at the cutting-edge of the sport for over 15 years. He formed Paradox Sports with Capt. Dennis “DJ” Skelton, who was injured in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2007. Paradox’s mission is to provide inspiration, opportunities and adaptive equipment to the disabled community, empowering their pursuit of a life of excellence through human-powered outdoor sports. Timmy is serving as interim executive director for Paradox.

He planned and organized the Grand Teton 9-11 veterans climb, and will be climbing with the group.

Visit TheBright.com and follow the Climb, offer words of encouragement on our facebook page, or you can donate directly by visiting www.paradoxsports.org.