Army Vet, Double Amputee, and Athlete Christy Gardner Has Never Let Anything Stop Her
September 11, 2024 at 04:46PMKathryn Miles profiles Christy Gardner—a woman inspired to join the military in the wake of 9/11 who became a double amputee after being severely injured serving in the US Army. Miles caught up with Gardner at home in Oxford, Maine, and shadowed her as she trained for the US Paralympic track and field trials and cared for a gaggle of year-old service dogs-in-training. For Gardner, it’s all part of an extremely busy life devoted to paying it forward—one she built for herself after defying her doctors’ orders to live her life in the so-called safety of a wheelchair.
Not long after she got back to Maine, a local Lab breeder offered her a puppy, wondering if she would try training him. Gardner had been volunteering both at the breeder and for several service-dog programs. She’d developed a sense for how to pick dogs for temperament, how to shape behaviors using positive-reinforcement training, and how to teach humans to work with their service animals. At the time, Moxie was nearing retirement and fighting cancer. Her successor, Doug, was still preparing for his service-dog exam. Nevertheless, Gardner agreed. And since she never seems to be anything less than all-in, she figured she might as well take in a few other puppies as well. She raised over $9,000 for their care and training and, with that, Mission Working Dogs was born.
Josh Gould, a Maine native and Marine Corps veteran, was injured while serving during the Iraq War. He returned with what he calls “minor physical disabilities and huge PTSD issues.” Gardner had already been encouraging him for years to try a service dog when she brought in Eleanor, a rescued Bernedoodle, or Bernese mountain dog crossed with a standard poodle. For Gould, it was pretty much love at first sight. “Eleanor has changed my life,” he says. “I’ve tried all the medications forced on me since I got home. I tried self-medicating. None of it worked. But Eleanor does. She’s more in tune with my emotions than I am. She’s a superhero.”
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/09/11/army-vet-double-amputee-and-athlete-christy-gardner-has-never-let-anything-stop-her/
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