Courtesy Photo | Spc. Drew Joyner and Pfc. Lauren Jahn spend some time joking around during the field...... read more read more
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Spc. Drew Joyner and Pfc. Lauren Jahn: Two of a kind
By: Whitney Delbridge Nichels
FORT BLISS, Texas – At the 2018 Army Trials, you can’t miss the guy with the neon pink sneakers and funky hair sometimes covered by a festive sombrero.
That’s U.S. Army Spc. Drew Joyner – competitor and, at times, comic relief of this year’s events.
On the surface, it is hard to tell that the self-proclaimed social butterfly recently endured a devastating accident that would change his life forever. Even worse, the source of his injury is something he can’t remember.
In January 2017, the New Mexico native was stationed in Germany serving as a tank driver. One day while driving along the Russian border, Joyner says something went terribly wrong in the driver’s hull.
“I looked at my [non-commissioned officer] and said ‘I can’t see the road, I can’t see anything,’” Joyner said.
That is the last thing he remembers before losing consciousness.
Joyner says a technical malfunction caused carbon monoxide to fill the tank, seeping into the driver’s hull and poisoning the Soldiers within.
When a rescue team arrived, Joyner was the last one pulled from the tank, and by then his heart had stopped.
“I’m told that they revived me there, and then I flatlined again on my way to the hospital,” Joyner said.
He slipped into a coma with little hope of waking up, but three days later he miraculously regained consciousness.
As the light hit his eyes, things went dark inside Joyner’s head.
“I had complete amnesia,” he said. “My memories, my family, everything from my childhood… all gone.”
After undergoing two surgeries at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., the 21-year-old spent days and weeks relearning the things most adults take for granted.
“Things like doing laundry and brushing my teeth,” Joyner said. “Even little things like 1+1. I had to relearn everything.”
And the lingering physical effects of the carbon monoxide have presented just as many challenges. “I have issues with my neck, my heart, my lungs…carbon monoxide affects your whole body,” he said.
The journey to becoming who he once was has not been easy.
“It can be depressing,” he said. “You don’t really want anyone to know what you’re going through, but at the same time you want someone to be there for you.”
Fortunately for Joyner, the universe often has a way of bringing people together at just the right time.
When he entered the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Carson, he began playing adaptive sports, ultimately earning a chance to compete at Atlantic Regional Trials.
Enter Pfc. Lauren Jahn, a mother of three from Gainesville, Fla.
“I thought to myself ‘who is this cat with the pink shoes?” Jahn laughed recalling the first time she saw Joyner and his signature neon sneakers at Regional Trials.
Jahn’s recovery story is equally filled with obstacles and adversity.
In 2016, Jahn had just entered Advanced Individual Training, with hopes of being a combat medic, when she started having strange pains in her shins.
An MRI revealed a devastating diagnosis: a rare bone cancer with only about 400 other reported cases according to Jahn.
“I loved soccer, but I can’t do that anymore. They told me I’d never run again,” said Jahn.
When she arrived at the Fort Sam Houston WTB, Jahn decided not to accept the limitations defined by her doctors.
She took up adaptive sports, was selected to compete at the Atlantic Regional Trials and the rest is history.
Jahn and Joyner both advanced from Regional to Army Trials and so did their friendship. “We just clicked immediately,” said Joyner. “We talk all the time.”
“We’ve definitely been there for each other,” said Jahn. “We’ve both had some low points, but he’s always so bubbly that it makes those around him happy. Drew is young, so I feel like I’ve been where he is with having to find himself. I think I have a lot of wisdom for him and he has a lot of strength for me.”
As they cheer each other on through the competition, they’re making their mark and earning medals in multiple sports along the way. But more than anything, they hope to be a reflection of just how beneficial the camaraderie between wounded warrior athletes can be for those in transition.
“It makes me feel really good. It says to me I’m not the only one that hurts, that’s going through pain. We’re all pushing together,” said Joyner.
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.08.2018 17:13 |
| Story ID: | 268703 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 261 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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