SANTIAGO, Chile — When Christy Gardner met with the polytrauma team at the hospital after her injury, they went through a 3-page list of things she could never do again — riding a bike, running, swimming, etc. 

“They literally didn’t want me to be active and thought that my feet, my legs were too fragile for that,” Gardner said. 

Gardner listened to the doctors, barely doing anything, she said. Being a member of the United States’ National Sled Hockey team, an alternate for Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, or a member of the U.S Parapan American Games roster for athletics would have never been in the cards for her back in 2006, when she was injured. As a result, she’s heavily involved in non-profit work relating to service dogs and adaptive sports back in Maine, where she is from. 

Over 15 years later, Gardner will compete in the Women’s Discus Throw F57 Classification on Nov. 22 and Women’s Shot Put F57 Classification on Nov. 23 at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile. A strong performance in Chile can put her on the doorstep to qualify for the 2024 Paralympics, which would be her first-ever. 

Gardner comes from a heavy military family — mostly the Marines and the Navy — but she served in the U.S Army. Gardner wanted to serve for over 20 years, but she was injured in the line of duty in 2006. She made it just three-and-a-half years, including rehabbing in active duty. 

On a peacekeeping mission, she was injured on a dismounted assault, attacked by locals on foot. She suffered skull and multiple facial fractures in her cheek, jaw and nose. She was stabbed, too, resulting in a spinal cord injury. She broke her leg in three places, lost three fingers and had organ damage and torn ligaments. 

“I wasn’t blown up, I was essentially beat up,” Gardner said. “They teach us in basic training that you may die, but they don’t teach you really what to do when you’re injured. So that was a whole new world for me.”

In her recovery, she had routine physical, speech and occupational therapy. She met Neal Williams, a Vietnam veteran who was injured during combat, and the pair bonded over service dogs. 

Service dogs are extremely important to Gardner. She trains them for a foundation that she founded in 2020, called Mission Working Dogs, whose tagline is “Changing lives, one leash at a time.” In October, she graduated 10 new dogs from her program. Some of the service dogs that have been alongside her Moxie, who she had once she retired from active duty and passed away in 2022. 

Then there’s Douggie, who couldn’t make the trip to Santiago, but is back home in Maine. Another service dog, Lucky, who is the main character in a couple children’s books Gardner has authored and are for sale.

“Just knowing that when my time in sport is over, that this is an incredible career path that I can do to make a difference in the lives of others,” Gardner said. 

Williams begged Gardner to attend veterans events with him, which happened to be sports-related, but Gardner was hesitant, as she questioned why she would go if she was told not to by her doctors. 

The event, which Gardner said was called “Veterans Affairs Fun in the Sun Day,” consisted of water skiing and kayaking. Gardner successfully water skied, which completely changed her mind on sports. 

“It was like, holy cow, ‘if I can do this, what else can I do?’” Gardner said. That was really just the tipping point of all of it, where I kind of jumped in and tried literally everything.”

Gardner tried many sports, figuring out what was fun and what adaptive sports she was good at. Gardner said she went from being severely handicapped to realizing she could do everything. In 2015 and 2016, her legs were amputated, but six months later, she ran her first 5k after being a wheelchair user who was previously told her feet were too fragile to walk. That year, she ran a 5k every weekend after. 

She had always been a sports person growing up. Gardner was a thrower during youth sports, and during college, she attended Long Island University for a track and field and field hockey scholarship before switching the former for lacrosse. 

When evaluating Gardner’s organ damage and abdominal injuries, doctors performed several DNA and food sensitivity testing. One of the test results showed that her muscle, tendon and fiber type were suited to powerlifting and throwing for track and field.

“My body is genetically predisposed to the sport, then I might as well try it and give it a whirl,” Gardner said. 

In April 2016, just before the Rio Paralympic trials, Gardner began throwing on the national level. She attended the trials the next month but wasn’t eligible for the games because she hadn’t been in the sport long enough. For Tokyo, five years later, Gardner was an alternate. 

All of this came after much success on the U.S. women’s national sled hockey team, which she is still a member of today, recently helping the U.S. win gold at the 2023 Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Back in 2014, she contributed to the United States’ 2014 International Paralympic Committee Ice Sledge Hockey Women’s International Cup title.

Back in May, Gardner competed in the national championships in Chula Vista, California, finishing first in both shot put and discus at the F57 classification, setting a new American record with 9.46m in shot put, she said. The performance earned her a spot for the Parapan American Games and has her on the doorstep to qualify for Paris next year. The roster will be named in spring 2024. 

“I think it’s a great opportunity to show what I can do but also to see what I can do under that sort of pressure,” Gardner said of Santiago 2023. 

She’s changed her training regiment ahead of the games, only practicing about three times a week, trying to “train smart, not harder,” she said. A couple years following the Rio trials, she flew about 75 times for competitions, which she realized wasn’t that beneficial or doable.

But as much as Christy Gardner would love to go to the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France, she’d rather create a platform for future generations. 

Back in Maine, she spearheaded the creation of an adaptive track and field program through Central Maine Adaptive Sports, a non-profit organization that offers adaptive sport opportunities like skiing, snowboarding, sled hockey, track and field and others. 

Gardner realized she could have a much bigger impact when a mother, whose daughter had a stroke at 12-years-old, saw Gardner on the local news after a meet and reached out to her for help. 

“Yes, I would love to go to (Paris). I would love to represent our country on that stage,” Gardner said. 

“But my dream is to make that possible for other kids in my community.”

For more photos of Christy Gardner, visit here.