Eric McElvenny gazed into the Afghanistan sky on a brisk winter evening, convinced his time was up.
On Dec. 9, 2011, the Rostraver native was a Marine Corps infantry officer deployed in the Helmand Province of the Middle Eastern nation. He and his troops were walking through a set of dangerous villages when he stepped on an improvised explosive device, triggering a blast that threw him to the ground.
“It was just a violent force, like I got hit by a truck,” he said. “I thought just for a moment that that was it. ... I’m a Christian man, I thought I was going to get to meet my savior.”
Within 40 minutes of getting “blown up,” he was rescued by a helicopter and receiving surgical care. He’d spend the next six days — and ultimately three weeks in total — in hospitals in Afghanistan, Germany and the United States, where amputations started to remove the lower part of his right leg.
His wife, Rachel, whom he’d met while they were both in the Naval Academy, was unable to visit him until he was transferred to Naval Medical Center San Diego near their then-residence. She prepared for the worst.
“I was just expecting the knock on the door.”
Flash forward nearly a decade after a successful recovery and ensuing surgeries have paid dividends for his new career. When the Tokyo Paralympics kick off on Aug. 24, Mr. McElvenny will be donning a red, white and blue tri kit as a paratriathlete for the United States.
The military man turned international athlete made his debut on the paratriathlon circuit two years ago and has since positioned himself well for perhaps the sport’s greatest stage.
“Being a Marine, I represented our country in uniform, in my fatigues,” he said. “Now, I get to compete again, represent the United States. It makes me feel like a kid, actually. Every once in a while, I gotta pinch myself. This is really happening.”
Before changing his focus to achieving international athletic glory, he was extremely passionate about joining the military. His desire to enlist was “solidified” in eighth grade when he had to do a research report for school and chose to do his on the Marine Corps.
He wanted to join the Marines after graduating from Belle Vernon High School, but his parents had different plans. His mother had encouraged him to get good grades, and his dad suggested he first enroll in the Naval Academy. He ultimately graduated from the Navy with a mechanical engineering degree before becoming a Marine officer.
From there, he deployed to Afghanistan three times as a Marine and safely returned home the first two times. But in what was expected to be his final tour, things certainly did not go as planned.
It’s common policy in the Marines to practice the “casualty evacuation drill,” where the troops get a soldier injured in the line of duty medical care as quickly as possible. But Mr. McElvenny never imagined he’d be the casualty.
He recollected how mercurial his emotions were while he resided in various hospitals, with a young daughter, Lupe, waiting at home with his wife.
“At one point I’m like, ‘Thank God I’m alive. This is awesome.’ And then it’s upset like, “How am I going to be a dad with one leg, like how does that work?’”
While still in the hospital, he received an email from his commanding officer, asking when he planned to run his first marathon.
This prompted the former prep baseball and football player to look for an even more rigorous athletic endeavor: an ironman triathlon.
“I was like ‘All right, game on. Let’s stop worrying about what I can’t do and let’s focus on what I can do,’” Mr. McElvenny said. “At that point I was like, ‘I’m going to do more than a marathon. I’m going to set my goal at running an ironman. Once I set a goal, it was like I couldn’t heal quick enough because I had something to work toward.”
There from his first step post-amputation onward was Peter Harsch, owner of Peter Harsch Prosthetics in San Diego. As director of the Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Comprehensive Combat Casualty Care Center or C-5 Unit, he fitted Mr. McElvenny’s first prosthetic and estimated he has since done 40 to 50 more of them for him.
He designs every running and cycling prosthetic specifically for Mr. McElvenny using technology from Össur, an Icelandic company.
“The hardest part is to get them to fit so they can run and bike at an elite level without pain or having sores,” Mr. Harsch said.
As a 15-time ironman triathlon finisher himself, Mr. Harsch competed alongside Mr. McElvenny for his first one in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. But after six years of ironmans, Mr. McElvenny decided to transition to paratriathlons after being persuaded in part by fellow paratriathlete Jamie Brown, with whom he has roomed with at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I kind of had a feeling he’d have some success,” Mr. Brown said. “Outside of the athleticism that you need, he’s a tough guy, so I was like, ‘He’s probably going to be able to look at this as a challenge and really want to dig deep to try to beat these other guys.’ ”
Mr. Brown was born missing the fibula in his right leg and had his foot amputated when he was 10 months old.
“It’s significantly easier [for me because] it’s the only thing I’ve ever known,” he said. “I didn’t have to relearn how to do anything, per se. When [Eric] was amputated, with his trauma, he was surrounded by some pretty cool people, and he flipped the script pretty quick. His turnaround time is probably one of the fastest I’ve ever seen with an older amputee.”
The paratriathlon duo and other Paralympians planned to travel to Hawaii for a week of heat acclimation training in anticipation of humid conditions in Tokyo. Then, it was off to Japan after a yearlong delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Harsch, who also makes prosthetics for Mr. Brown, considers himself blessed to have worked with such inspiring individuals. “I feel so honored to be a part of their journey, especially Eric. To see him now go to the Paralympics, man, I take a lot of pride in that. It’s pretty extraordinary for me.”
Meanwhile, Mr. McElvenny, 38, surprises himself by working as a motivational speaker because his nature is to be reserved. But he knew he had the opportunity to serve as a beacon of hope for those enduring unfortunate circumstances. Now, the Bethel Park resident travels across the country to speak, inspire and motivate others to grow from challenges similar and different from his own.
“He’s tremendous,” said his roommate Mr. Brown. “His message is pretty spot on for giving people hope, moving forward and that anything’s possible.”
Including winning a gold, silver or bronze medal in Tokyo later this month.
Their Paralympic adventure meant that Mr. McElvenny had to miss the second annual My Turn to Tri Special Needs Triathlon, which is a swimming, biking and running event at the Spencer Family YMCA in Bethel Park designed specifically for people with special needs. He gave an inspirational speech to athletes at the conclusion of the inaugural event in 2019 and was himself inspired. This year, his daughter, Lupe, was to be there to volunteer in his place.
Regardless of the event or avenue of life, there’s one thing that continues to push him — his love for helping others.
“The most important thing that we can do is be a part of someone else’s journey,” he said. “We all face our challenges, and they’re all different. But when we live life as a team, we do good things. It’s super rewarding to be able to give back.”
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1.
First Published: August 16, 2021, 9:16 a.m.
Updated: August 16, 2021, 11:03 a.m.
