Amanda Seward remembers the excitement she felt while cycling right before she crossed the finish line in the recent National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
She was having such a great time trying to keep up with her friend, she wasn’t even sure she’d completed the race.
“I couldn’t even remember if I did the right (number of) laps or not,” she said.
Seward, 31, of Williamsburg, received a gold medal in the handcycling competition this year. She also took home a silver group medal for softball and a bronze in powerlifting, during which she reached a new personal best at 110 pounds.
Seward said she’s proud of her accomplishments, but the best part wasn’t the awards; it was spending time with people she now considers family. It’s all been a part of her recovery over the past five years.
“It makes you happy to see them smile and live their best lives in this moment,” she said.
The National Veterans Wheelchair Games held its 43rd annual event July 25-30 in New Orleans. Solely for U.S. military veterans, the competition is open to participants with spinal cord injuries, amputations, multiple sclerosis or other central neurological conditions who require a wheelchair for athletic competition, according to the event’s website.
Launched in 1981, the games started with 77 athletes and has grown to 500 participants this year.
“The event demonstrates the unstoppable character of veterans and seeks to foster wider respect and opportunities for all people with disabilities,” the website states. “We want veterans with disabilities to feel empowered to apply what they learn at the Wheelchair Games to their daily lives.”
Seward’s 10-year career with the U.S. Army National Guard ended in 2019 when she was injured on her way to a recruiting event. She was traveling on icy roads when her vehicle lost control and crashed. Observing only minor damage, she decided to use a bungee cord as a temporary fix. As a new sergeant, and the only female in her unit, she said she felt pressured to “continue the mission.”
But while outside fixing her vehicle, another guardsman crashed into her and crushed her against her own parked car.
Seward spent five days in the intensive care unit and another two weeks in the hospital before she lost blood flow to her right leg, which was initially amputated below her knee. Months later, she learned she also suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Seward spent two years doing physical therapy and art, music and dance therapy at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. During that time, she continued to have complications with her leg. She eventually had it amputated above her knee.
Seward said her road to recovery has been difficult, and she admits she still struggles at times.
“I felt very lost, alone,” she said. “I was mad at the world for a long time.”
Seward said she experienced all the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining and depression — but now she’s moving toward acceptance. People tend to think of grief as this perfect process, like a neatly gathered spool of yarn, she said. But the stages don’t necessarily happen in order, and grieving can come and go. She described it more like a mess of yarn.
“It’s like this whole ball of yarn, and your cat attacked it,” she said.
Seward credits both art therapy and her participation in adaptive sports for helping to pull her out of her darkest days. While she went through a period of time where she needed to be alone, the friends she has made through adaptive sports have been a saving grace, she said. Her advice to others struggling right now is to keep going.
“So long as you are still fighting, you are still breathing and you have a heartbeat,” she said. “Surround yourself with those who are going to lift you up.”
Seward’s injury gave her a new lease on life and is a catalyst for two major goals. She’s now studying to be an art therapist, and she’s also working to earn a spot in the snowboarding competition for the 2026 Winter Paralympics.
Currently a student at Richard Bland College, Seward hopes to transfer her studies to William & Mary and eventually wants to earn a Ph.D.
Early in her healing, Seward said she didn’t see the point of art therapy. However, she eventually learned to use it as a way to cope. The arts — writing, painting, drawing, sculpting and more — allow her to transform her pain into something she can see and helps her better understand it.
Adaptive sports, meanwhile, have both provided a healthy outlet for Seward and introduced her to people who now walk her healing journey with her.
Irene Montero, a recreation therapist with Central Virginia VA Health Care System, started working with Seward in February 2023. She first accompanied Seward to the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Colorado, where Seward earned a novice snowboarding award.
While Montero isn’t officially Seward’s recreation therapist, she acts as her coach at sporting events, including the recent wheelchair games. She said the two keep in contact often, with Seward affectionately calling her “mom.”
Montero said she’s impressed by Seward’s motivation and her willingness to help others.
“She’s going places and making things happen for herself,” Montero said. “She’s outgoing, she’s energetic, she’s got a big, big heart.”
Johnny Sandoval, a friend of Seward’s and competitor at the recent wheelchair games, shared similar sentiments. He also touched on another passion of Seward’s: helping and encouraging women veterans.
“She’s willing to help anybody out,“ Sandoval said. “She has the right spirit, she’s positive, she speaks up for women.”
“She’s just an amazing person. I think that young lady is going to go a long way and help other women,” he said.
Seward said her experience as a disabled veteran has opened her eyes to the struggles of other female veterans.
“I want you to know you are seen, heard and loved, and I want you to be part of our community,” she said. “If you have a hand to hold, you are so much stronger. If you have many hands to hold, you’re unstoppable.”
Sarah J. Ketchum-Pribush, sarahketchumpribush@gmail.com
