Wounded Warrior plans counter attack
SALEM – Sgt. Seyward McKinney admitted she was concerned she might be wounded while she was serving in the Green Zone in Iraq as an operating room technician in 2004.
It was ironic that McKinney, who graduated from Glenvar High School two years before, was felled by her own body. And it didn’t happen in Iraq, but in Texas.
Wounded Warrior Seyward McKinney lifts a 15-pound kettle bell weight while she trains at the Salem Family YMCA with personal trainer Stephanie Gillenwater. Photo by Meg Hibbert.
Two years after she came back from Iraq and was serving in Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Wash., doctors found an arteriovenous malformation or AVM in her brain. The condition can cause bleeding in the brain and seizures.
Nine days after her last treatment, she had a stroke. It was Friday the 13th, 2009. The stroke affected the left side of her brain, paralyzing the right side of her body.
She worked hard to strengthen her body and regain her ability to talk. The former Glenvar High School athlete who played soccer, competed in track and field and ran cross country will be competing again next week.
This time Senior Sgt. McKinney, Ret., will be throwing the shot put and riding a recumbent bike as a member of the Army Team in the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Col.
She won bronze and gold medals in those games last year. “There will be a lot more competition this year, so it will be more of a challenge,” she said, as she practiced lifting a kettle bell high over her head at the Salem Family YMCA last week.
The 27-year-old flew out Monday to train for a week in Colorado before the games begin May 16 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. A few weeks ago, she traveled to New Orleans to compete in an Iron Man competition. That was a milestone. It was her first trip alone, said her mother, since her daughter’s stroke.
At the Warrior Games, McKinney will be one of 200 wounded, ill or injured service members from all branches of the armed forces.
It’s been a long journey back to being able to do things for herself.
There were blessings along the way, starting with the fact her parents, Bill and Cynthia McKinney, happened to be visiting when the stroke hit, and continuing through two weeks ago when Seyward closed on a house of her own in Salem. That, and a paid-for SUV that has a wheelchair ramp and someday McKinney can drive on her own, came from Help Our Military Heroes, a charitable organization (http://www.helpourmilitaryheroes.org/).
After she returns from the Warrior Games, McKinney will get a service dog through the Paws for Purple Heart program. The dog will be trained to help her stand up, steady herself and retrieve objects for her mistress.
Her mother thought back to the day her daughter had the stroke.
“It was our big trip after retiring,” said her mother, who worked for 30 years as a project manager at Allstate Insurance. Her dad had taught science at Cave Spring Middle, Andrew Lewis Middle School and William Byrd Middle.
Cynthia McKinney noticed her daughter’s eyes “looked funny,” after Seyward mentioned she had a terrible headache. “I asked her how old she was, and she said 12. I knew something was wrong and called the ambulance.”
Those were scary days for her parents, not knowing if their daughter would survive and how much damage the stroke caused.
After she was able to come home to Glenvar for a couple of months of therapy at the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center, she got a call to report to report to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for more intensive therapy.
She was there for two years, working her way through speech therapy and physical therapy that included horseback riding. Her parents went with her, leaving younger brother Abe at home in Glenvar. Eventually Bill and Cynthia got an apartment in Silver Spring to be close to their daughter.
“Seyward has been an inspiration,” said her mother. “She never seems to be upset with her disability and continually tries to combat the deficit the stroke has left her…God has really provided for her care with her medical bills, her free car, enough money to purchase a home. She has friends in Salem and the VA is close by.”
And she’s planning to go to Virginia Western and study nursing. “I need about seven more classes to get an associate’s degree,” McKinney said.
She’s been able to do things she probably wouldn’t have done if she had not been injured.
“I’ve met the vice president and president twice, movie stars, got to do some things I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise,” she said. “This has really been a blessing from God.”
In her house that is being adapted for her needs, McKinney will live with Sweet Pea, a Quaker parrot who talks and calls her brother; Cockatiels Mojo, Banty Rooster and Emma.
In her leisure time, McKinney said she enjoys “hanging out with friends,” going to church at Faith Baptist in Salem, and watching movies.
Seyward is an amazing young woman, and I’m so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet / get to know her. I actually met Seyward in early December, when she was presented with her beautiful new van by Help Our Military Heroes, Inc., a non-profit organization that works to provide appropriately accessible vans for our wounded heroes. We’re so happy with the new mobility the van provides Seyward and look forward to the day that she can be a driver and really experience her new independence.
Have a great ride in Colorado, Seyward!