Twila Adams spent 11 years in the Army. In 1994, three years after receiving a honorable discharge, she was involved in an accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down.
Adams was told that she may never walk again. Now 62, Adams is proving those doctor’s wrong as she enters the 40th Annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games in New York City.
“I had to go through some things after my accident to realize I’m still here, there’s still hope,” Adams told the Charlotte Observer. That included not listening to naysayers. “I didn’t need the negativity. ‘Oh, you think I can’t do that? Oh, I’m not supposed to do this? Well, watch me.’ Was I afraid? Yes, of course, but I learned to do things I was afraid of a long time ago.”
Twila Adams is participating in her 13th National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
Adams knew her recovery would be a struggle after her accident. But she was prepared to fight for it.
“I had a conversation with my nurses, and I said, ‘Look, we are going to do this together.’ I told them when you bathe me, you scrub and rub as hard as you can. Maybe if you do that, some of the messages will come back,” Adams said.
Veterans of all abilities participate in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
Doctors were surprised when Adams first regained feelings in her lower body, Stripes reports. Learning to walk was an even greater achievement. Adams moves around with the help of a wheelchair, but she can stand up with support and walk a few steps at a time.
Now attending her 13th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, Adams recalls first hearing about the competition in 2002.
“Novices go for free, so I went and I saw athletes using their teeth to shoot archery and adaptive equipment to shoot an air rifle,” she said. “A woman who couldn’t use her entire left side because of a stroke? There she was bulls-eye on point. I thought, ‘I don’t know if they realize what they have done, but my life is about to change for the better.’”
Adams became quadriplegic after an accident badly injured her legs.
Looking to get involved in any way possible, Adams joined the Atrium Health’s Adaptive Sports and Adventures Program where she found a love for tennis.
“It took me two years to learn to get the ball over the net,” she said. “People would be out there like: ‘Aww, how nice, poor you, keep trying. Oh, you’re still out here?’ ‘Yes I am!’ I went by myself and worked on my serve over and over and over.”
The 40th Annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games is being held in New York City.
Adams has driven herself to be better at everything she sets out to do, simply because the challenge is there.
“I don’t even like tennis,” Adams said. “But ever since my accident, people kept telling me, ‘You can’t, you can’t,’ and you don’t tell me ‘You can’t.’”
Along with tennis, Adams has also participated in the Adaptive Sports and Adventure’s annual Cycle to the Sea, a three day, 180-mile bike ride from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach.
This year, the commemorative coins passed out to participants at the games feature an image of Adams power lifting.
“It took me some time, but I really look at it as my accident happened for me, not to me,” Adams said. “It changed my life. These games changed my life.”
See more of Adams in the video below.