Army Nurse Went From Helping Patients To Being One

Army nurse goes from helping wounded warriors to racing them for gold 
United States Army
By Tim Hipps
June 25, 2015

Being an Army medic for 13 years and a medical provider for wounded warriors, she knew her road to recovery would be long and painful.

Army nurse goes from helping wounded warriors to racing them for gold Army Capt. Kelly Elmlinger, a surgical nurse with the Warrior Transition Unit on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, wins her division of the 100 meters in the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games track competition on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., June 23...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Army News Service, June 24, 2015) -- Two years ago, Army surgical nurse Capt. Kelly Elmlinger was helping wounded warriors recover from battle scars at the San Antonio Military Medical Center.

Now, she's competing alongside wounded warriors at the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games in Quantico this week.

Elmlinger, 35, planned to compete in all of the track events and three of the four swimming events.

She got off to a roaring start, June 23, by winning her divisions of the 100- and 800-meter wheelchair races before the remaining track events were postponed because of a severe thunderstorm.

In March 2013, Elmlinger was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare tumor in her lower leg, while she was taking care of wounded warriors in San Antonio.

"I ended up finding myself a patient on my own floor," she said. "In January and February of 2014, I was able to start doing rehab."

By June, she was competing again - this time in a wheelchair.

"I've always been involved in athletics," said Elmlinger, who competed in track and field, cross country and basketball in high school and college. "I stayed active through the military [before being diagnosed with cancer] in different events, so when I got to San Antonio to take care of the wounded warriors, I knew a little bit about the adaptive sports and some of the things they did.

"We very much enjoyed when our patients who left our inpatient services came back to show us they were on their prosthetics - they were walking, they were competing, they were going on trips - and the milestones they were able to achieve. It was absolutely wonderful to see them come back much healthier and in much better spirits, so that got me introduced to the adaptive community."
read more here