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It was after a snow storm when Mass Communication Specialist 1st
Class Laurie Wood saw her 9-year-old son outside. She peered out the
window to see him scraping snow and ice from the wheel chair ramp
leading up to their Norfolk, Virginia home.
"He didn't even
have to be asked," said Wood, in her morning Facebook post.
Even as such a young boy, he's already a great man - and the legs of
the family.
In April, 2012, as a member of the Norfolk
sheriff's office, Wood was injured while going over training
scenarios with an Academy class of recruits. She fell more than 20
feet from a roof, breaking her back, but not her spirit. Now as a
paraplegic, she is proving every day that legs are a luxury, not a
necessity.
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Three photos of Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Laurie Wood from her Facebook page. On the left, Wood is lowered down a rock climbing wall with a rope. On the center and right, Wood participates in skiing event at a winter sports clinic. (U.S. Navy
image collage by Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Starr, December 11,
2015 )
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Wood joined the Navy out of Peru, New York, at 17, right
out of high school in 1995. Her brother was in the Navy and
she knew it was something she wanted to do. She had a love
of taking photos and when she realized she could be a
photographer in the Navy, she was sold.
While
stationed at Naval Air Station, Oceana, Virginia, she joined
the Auxiliary Security Force as a collateral duty. She
didn't know it at the time, but she was falling in love all
over again, with law enforcement.
"I decided to
transition to the reserves in 2000 so I could do both of the
things I loved," said Wood. "I was able to continue to take
photos for the Navy, while pursuing a career in law
enforcement. I met a Norfolk deputy in the motorcycle
community who helped me with the application process."
Wood joined the Norfolk sheriff's office in 2002 and
worked in a variety of departments, the last of those being
Academy Staff training, where she trained new recruits and
seasoned deputies. She finally had it all.
And then
the fall.
“If I didn't laugh, I'd cry," said Wood.
"And I like laughing more. I love to smile, joke around, and
I especially love shenanigans. I'm still me, I'm just
sitting."
-MC1 Laurie Wood
The next person hit the
hardest by Wood's accident was her son, Gavin, or as Wood
calls him, Momma's lil hashbrown. Initially very scared by
the whole thing, due to the amount of pain Wood was in, he
has proven incredibly resilient.
"He was the one who
said, 'you're still you, mom. You're just sitting.' He's a
pretty smart little nugget," said Wood. "He loved to steal
my chair and play around with it. That novelty has worn off
a little, but he still tools around with it. He knows how to
break it down piece by piece and put it back together, but
he prefers to just pick the whole thing up and put it in the
car. I still can't believe he can lift it! I try to spoil
him whenever possible because he has so much to do around
the house. Sweeping, mopping, emptying the dishwasher,
bringing EVERYTHING up and down the stairs, and that's just
the start of it. He's a great kid."
But that is in no
small part due to his great mom.
"With her service
record, two mobilizations and being our EP each cycle, she
was no doubt on track for selection to Chief," said Chief
Mass Communication Specialist Jim Bane. "Laurie didn't just
learn the skills needed to become a good leader, she was
born with them. She was ready for every challenge. And that
hasn't changed. In a way, this paraplegic condition is more
like a new job for her. She has taken it on in the same way
she did every other challenge she was faced with. She
started it with self-doubt, then anxiety, then energy and
determination and finally success. This is where she is so
great. Guys like me get too bogged down with the first two,
self-doubt and anxiety. It's people like Laurie that move us
out of that and into applying energy and determination to
get to success and she is great at that, wheelchair or no
wheelchair. "
"I was angry when I first saw her in
the wheel chair," said Cmdr. Scot Cregan, commanding officer
for Navy Public Affairs Support Element East, Norfolk. "We
got through a tour in Afghanistan and to have something like
this happen back home was just unfair. She saw that I was
visibly distressed and just smiled and let me know she could
still kick my ass! She's always been strong and is a
fighter."
Staying positive is what gets Wood through
the day, she said. She still has her feel sorry for herself
moments, but they are few and far between.
"I have
good days and not so good days, but I refuse to call any day
where I wake up, bad," said Wood. "Overall, I just have to
stay positive."
"After the accident, it was a big
adjustment, but with her determination and positive attitude
she is doing great," said Lawrence Wood, Laurie's brother.
Laurie has had a great deal of support from her family and
friends, and especially her son Gavin who helps her out a
lot. She has found additional activities to do since her
accident like swimming, playing sled hockey and her hand
cycle. I'm extremely proud of her."
Laurie's family
has definitely been a great support to her.
"My daddy
retired early to help me out, and his wife took more than a
month off of work to go back and forth between New York,
Georgia and Virginia to help me," said Wood. "My brother
Lenny retiled my kitchen floor, repainted my kitchen and
tiled the backsplash. He also found sled hockey for me. My
family, including my step sister, was very supportive. I
want them to know how much I love them and appreciate their
efforts."
"Laurie was, and continues to be, someone
who never takes her mobility for granted," said Lt. Charity
Edgar. "She was the first female SWAT team member, although
it wasn't called that in Norfolk, but it was their version,
and was given the sought after job of training recruits,
very vigorous. She did Combat Camera for many years and had
a deployment to Afghanistan, which resulted in some of the
most amazing photographs I've ever seen. She's a huge
badass!"
Although medically retired from both the
sheriff's office and the military, Wood is not about to give
up her title as a Sailor. Reserve unit members from NPASE
were instrumental in her recovery.
"It really is
true that you find out who your friends are in a time of
need, and my unit is full of true friends," said Wood. "I
love that we still continue to have dinner together when
they arrive for drill weekend. It's not a question of if,
just when and where. That means the world to me. They even
had a fundraiser for me, and because of that, I was able to
catch up on bills that were piling up and buy a front
loading washer and dryer. That may not seem like a very big
deal, but this injury has affected every aspect of my life,
so something as simple as that makes a world of difference
to me."
"The unit wanted to help," said Edgar. "We
were so shocked by the severity of the accident. How could
someone who valued life and mobility so much be injured in
this way? So we rallied. Our leadership worked with the
Hampton Roads Navy League to set up a fundraiser so gifts to
Laurie would be tax-deductible. Personally, I did a half
marathon and raised money and then had a Happy Hour
post-race so Laurie could thank everyone who donated. Our
senior leadership chipped in to get her some great tickets
to see the Yankees, her favorite team. We always invite her
to unit gatherings because she is and always will be part of
the team. We enjoy her, but at the end of the day, we are
really just doing what she'd gladly do for any of us."
"Whether it's to provide some training, help out with
the Physical Fitness Assessment, or just say hi; I couldn't
imagine myself not still being tied to the unit in some
way," said Wood. "We've worked together and supported each
other through deployments, personal and professional
achievements, good times and bad. They've never left my
side. The Navy has been a huge part of my recovery."
Wood is also lucky enough to have a "pretty cool" German
shepherd named Squatch.
Initially, she was just an
added member of the family as a pet, but Wood was fortunate
enough to meet a dog trainer with Citizen K-9 in Virginia
Beach. She offered to train Squatch to be a service dog.
"So far she's learned how to open and close kitchen
cabinets, pick up dropped items, and transfer items from
shelves to my shopping cart," said Wood. She'll also learn
how to pull me when needed and even carry groceries in from
the car. These things are easily taken for granted by most,
but it makes life so much easier."
What hasn't been
made easier for Wood is being content to just sit still.
Seeing photos from her able-bodied days triggers a desire to
really move.
"Riding my motorcycle, working at the
Sheriff's Office Training Academy, being in the Navy,
playing with my son; I was the girl climbing on anything and
everything to get the perfect photo," said Wood. "I'm still
able to drive with hand controls and live on my own with my
son, and I'm involved in sled hockey. I even went to
Colorado to try snowmobiling and skiing during a Winter
Sports Clinic."
"I think Laurie getting involved
with sled hockey was huge," said Edgar, who also works for
an organization called Disabled American Veteran (DAV) in
her civilian capacity. "Adaptive sports made her realize
that although what she can do may be different, she can
still do so much and continue to push limits. That's why I
thought my work's Winter Sports Clinic was right up her
alley."
"There is always something good you can pull
out of something negative," said Wood. "It may not be the
way I would have chosen, but I'm able to show my son how to
overcome adversity, not to take anything for granted and to
love with all your heart because circumstances can change in
the blink of an eye. I take life one day at a time and
remind myself how lucky I am to still be here in my son's
life. I believe that nothing can stop me from doing anything
I want, I believe in miracles, I believe that if you put
your mind to something you can accomplish anything, I
believe you should never say never, and I believe I'm still
me, sitting; but always living."
By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Starr
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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