Curtis McGrath on Triumph over Tragedy

and I'm walking along pict just behind me and I'm got my rifle at the trail and um and then all of a sudden I'm like laying on the flat of my back looking up at the sky it's 11:00 in the morning bright blue sky and it's black it's dark it's dusty it's incredibly quiet and as the rocks and debris sort of start fall dissipate and I can see the sky um I'm you know dazed and confused about why and what the hell has just happened um I get up on my elbows and I immediately knew what had happened I could see my metal detector was obliterated all over the place um my rifle was snapped in half and sent off into the Hesco bar baskets to the right I could see the blast created next to me I could see the blood spraying out of my legs like a fire hose um and that's when the pain hit me like a freight train and it wasn't just my legs that were sore it was my ears my tongue my hands my my back my ass everything about my body was under attack and They Carried me along to where the vehicles were in a haror and it's nice to not have to explain what that is um and they're carrying me along and and uh every step of the way I feel like I'm going to fall off it and I'm saying don't you drop me don't you drop me and um I could see you know some of the guys were crying as they're carrying the stretcher and and you know I could see see and feel the the the hurt that they were also feeling that trauma and I said to them boys I'll be fine I'll be fine know go to the par Olympics or something like that and that's a weird but um I said oh won't be in the green and gold that would be in the black and white and they're like f right suppose he walk to the chopper then so yeah in that got to meet Rachel my my girlfriend now my wife um at the plane door and and um this this photo here is a couple weeks after that that reunion and it was a difficult reunion because I felt like I'd let her down I changed ultimately and drastically the course of our lives and and where we were going and what we were going to do and this photo I leave in because this photo about 5 minutes after it I had a massive breakdown I was the first time I was able to move myself from the bed onto the wheelchair it was the first time by myself um you know having uh the nurses and the Wares to do everything for me was was great but when you have to actually have to be independent it's a really um sinking feeling to actually this is my reality and I'm now a disabled person I'm now a person that requires Prosthetics wheelchairs driving modification shows just to have a normal life and and that was something that was very difficult for me a 24y old fit healthy guy um all that to me was now taken away and now is sort of wheelchair bound and not understanding about what the opportunities were and that's where Rachel came in and you know we went off to Physio and she said I think you should set goals thinking about who you are and where you're going what you're going to do with yourself and try and aim for something have something to look forward to something to progress towards to push yourself and you know find that opportunity within what your situation is having that opportunity to to be pushed along by by this the team around me which is really important and I think how do we become high performance it's generally the team around us and the team around us make it all happen they bring the boats along they book the travel they um you know provide the the physiology and the biomechanics and these guys can you know inflict a lot of pain on people in in in their sessions and things like that um but this is the brains behind the onw coaching staff and the the coaching staff and that's how we Elevate with our team around us our specializations of these people people uh to bring along to produce an athlete and I'm just one athlete and as you can see there's probably what like 10 10 people all supporting me and all sort of pushing Along on their own goals and Ambitions that make make it possible uh to to be a high performance athlete and you know what does a day look like a day um can be you know generally most the same it's very very monotonous very routine and I like that and that's something I think the military instills in us having that routine having that process of of achieving the same tasks but enhancing them every day but it's also something that gets very fatiguing and um you know to try and be better than you were the day before day on day out is very very difficult and uh this is sort of a sort of a snapshot of a day an amazing feeling to to get to that line to say that I'd get to the par Olympic Games and achieve it was an amazing feeling and when I crossed that line it wasn't um it wasn't a feeling of of success it wasn't a feeling of of of Joy which I expected it was a it's a feeling of absolute and utter relief you know I like I said I set those goals and I was achieving them not just for me but the people that came along that Journey with me all those staff all my friends all my family all my mates in the Army you all those people that helped saved my life and got me to where I was now and having that moment on the podium was pretty cool because that's when I actually felt like I'd succeeded you know since being injured in Afghanistan I've been given a new perspective on life and you know whether that is you know becoming a disabled person or winning a silver medal when you work so hard to get gold you know all of these things have made me the person I am today and I often get asked what I would would I go back and change what happened to me in Afghanistan and and I should absolutely not it's it's allowed me to pursue a direction make friends have opportunities that I would never have had otherwise and and that's pretty much why it is a triumph over tragedy so thank you very much