Ski
instructor Matthew Staton is helping injured soldiers and veterans take on the
mountain during Wintergreen's Wounded Warriors weekend.
"Getting
them back out there - just the look on their face going from that initial kind
of terror look that they've got on their face to that kind of kids smile in a
candy store look where it's just their eyes are gleaming and it's great and to
see that is the best thing in the world," Staton said. "For them to
look at me and say wait a minute, if he can do it what can I do?"
Staton is
not your ordinary ski instructor. Like the skiers braving the slopes with the
help of special equipment and volunteers this weekend, he too has come a long
way since he was wounded at war.
"The
initial shock of having a gunshot wound to the upper left leg and multiple ones
across the chest - you don't really think about what you're going to be doing
afterward, you're kind of thankful that you're alive," Staton said.
"But days later, when I was laying there in Landstuhl after my second
surgery, it really sank in is would I even be able to walk again?"
Warrior
weekend was filled to capacity with 27 Wounded Warriors and their families,
reaching heights they might have never imagined.
"I
think as a newly-hurt service member it's important to understand that even
though life is different, it's going to go on and you're still going to be able
to do some really fun things," said Dennis Walburn.
And Staton
is cheering them all on.
"I
can look at them and say 'do I look 100 percent disabled?' I am," he
said. "The VA considers me 100 percent disabled. I don't walk around
here being known by my disabilities, I'm known for my abilities."
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