Vets Receive Extra Care at Sports Clinic

Navy veteran Gileen Paschal tried surfing last year at the Veterans Summer Sports Clinic and hated it.

Only a couple of years ago, Paschal would never have predicted she'd be waxing her board on the beach. She had a stroke and lost much of her peripheral vision. She also suffers from migraines, depression and anxiety.

 “I wouldn’t leave the house,” she said, but at the urging of her doctor and friends, she applied to the sports clinic. She was hooked.

“You should have seen me this year - I was the Queen Surfer!” she said. “I had a total change in attitude. Everything changes within me after these events.”

More than 100 disabled veterans from across the nation flocked to Coronado's Tidelands Park, La Jolla and other San Diego sites to attend the Fourth Annual Veterans Summer Sports Clinic hosted by the Department of Veteran Affairs. The event concludes Friday.

The clinic, featuring track and field, rowing, surfing, sailing, cycling and kayaking, seeks to promote rehabilitation in mind and body for service men and women who have suffered disabling injuries within the past six years. 

The VA also follows up, in hopes of helping the veterans acquire the special equipment needed continue to keep active in their daily lives.

That will be the case for Caleb Darling, 25, who came to the clinic with his wife, Kathleen. Darling, who worked in Army intelligence, suffered a serious brain injury following a car wreck in which he swerved to avoid a teen-age driver who had cut him off.

He and Kathleen used tandem bicycles during his lengthy rehabilitation, but he found at the cycling event at Tidelands Park that he can ride an adapted bicycle by himself. He rode more than 11 miles to the Silver Strand this week and was thrilled. At times, he even passed his wife.

“He'd come up on the side with this huge smile on his face,” Kathleen said.

While the clinic hosts a variety of veterans facing challenges, Ian Dosland, a local Navy veteran, says they all share something important.

“It seems like we’re all in the same boat, you know?” he said. “One guy doesn’t have a leg, another guy doesn’t have an arm, there are people with mental conditions and it’s basically people just struggling to adapt to regular life and trying to be active.”

Dosland still doesn't know why he's ailing, even after spending a year in a hospital.

“They opened up the ventilation on my ship and everyone got sick,” he said. “I got really sick.”

His symptoms escalated to a debilitating condition that left him with very little control over his legs.

“It sucks when it’s a mystery - it’s really mentally painful, especially because nobody really knows a good treatment plan,” he said.

Dosland doesn’t have a lot of answers but he has found being active is one of the few effective solutions. 

“It’s been awesome - really, really great,” he said. “It’s just nice not to feel singled out. You’re part of a group. Everyone is encouraging you – they know how hard it is.”

Jennifer Vigil contributed to this report.