Recreational Therapy Helps Marine Veteran to Become Paralympian
When her VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System recreation therapist called Jataya Taylor and invited her to a fencing program, Taylor didn’t expect that it would put her on the road to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. But that is where she is headed later this month.
Taylor enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2005 as a military police officer. However, barely a year into her enlistment, while stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, tragedy struck.
“We were doing some training, and a guy behind me wasn’t paying attention and ran into me and tripped me,” said Taylor. “And I fell down a hill and messed up my right shoulder and left knee. I had ACL repairs because I played a lot of basketball, and I was really healthy when I went in. So, right off the bat, I knew something wasn’t right.”
The immediate pain was an indicator that her fall was more damaging than it first appeared. This is when she discovered she had a rare connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS).
According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of EDS include overly flexible joints, stretchy skin and fragile skin. The cause of EDS is often genetic, with it being passed from parent to child. Additionally, certain types of EDS can cause issues with the heart, weakening the aorta and other arteries in the body. This, sometimes, can be fatal.
However, even though Taylor knew something was wrong, others within her medical team disagreed with her, which led to its own problems.
“They said I didn't need surgery,” said Taylor. “Someone else? I need surgery. Then they said, ‘OK, we're going to med board you,’ and as soon as they said med board, everything got lost in the works. And I never got my medical before I got out.”
Taylor hoped to separate from the Marine Corps with the possibility of reenlisting later after addressing her medical needs. However, instead the Marine Corps put her on the Permanent Disability Retirement List, preventing her from future reenlistment.
Taylor’s knee continued to get worse, and in 2016 her right leg was amputated. After a rocky start with VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, she found recreation therapy.
“She is a ball of fire,” said Katherine Crocker, VA ECHCS recreation and outpatient therapist. “She knows what she wants, and she’s not afraid to fight for what she wants and deserves. There may be hiccups and there may be speedbumps, but she’s willing to try. She already had a decent connection with community partners. Being part of recreation therapy, allowed her to home in on being a peer mentor and working with other veterans who were new to the VA system.”
Being surrounded by other veterans, finding the camaraderie that had escaped her since the end of her Marine Corps career was one challenge Crocker knew Taylor could overcome by having a purpose.
“She is an amazing person, and she has had a hard time,” said Crocker. “But she continues to rise up and fight for what she wants. And she is getting there by being able to go to the Paralympics. That’s been one of her major goals. She has done multiple sports, but this fencing has been so cool to see the journey with her fencing program.”
Even though she takes to fencing now, that was not always the case for Taylor.
“One day, Kat called and said, ‘We have a veteran's fencing program, you need to come out.’ and I went to like three or four sessions with the VA,” said Taylor. “I left for three months or so to go to the East Coast to visit family. And I came back and I'm like, I really do like fencing, and I pretty much dropped everything else and started fencing. And it was what I needed. Therapy has a knack of getting you where you need to be when you need to be there. They know their patients.”
Taylor, who had no type of formal training in fencing, quickly found herself being pushed into something that seemed to call to her and provide that camaraderie and sense of purpose she had in the Marine Corps.
“If you are willing to have an open mind and try things out, we will find a way to help you do what you love to do,” said Crocker. “But there are all these adaptations and modifications. You just have to have the open mind to try new things. It’s amazing when you see that click in veterans.”
The team at the Denver Fencing Center saw potential in Taylor and pushed her to compete with an eye on the 2028 Paralympics in LA. Less than three months after she started fencing, she went to her first national competition and did well.
“At first it was a North American Cup, October 2022. Because they're like, ‘we have to get you to this competition because there's an international competition here in the US and January, we don't want to just show up with you.’”
With the 2024 Paralympics starting in just a few weeks in Paris, Taylor readies herself for the next challenge she must overcome as she prepares to represent the U.S.
The 2024 Paralympics in Paris begin run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.