Enduring Reality ... Overcoming

"I try not to think about it, but every single day, I'm reminded of it. I can't forget, because when I wake up in the morning, my legs are still gone, my arms and hands are still damaged. I'm still in a wheelchair; I still have prosthetics."
"I can never forget about it. From now until the day I die, I'll always be reminded of the war. It doesn't just go away."
"You have to get out of bed: You have to get your coffee and breakfast and get your day started. You have to carry on with your life."
"It was very depressing seeing all of my friends, people I've worked with, they're progressing, getting promoted, and moving on with their lives. And I'm just like a ghost: in the corner, not progressing, not gaining anything."
"I hate to lose. This is where the Invictus Games helps a lot. Now I'm gaining, I'm improving, I have a focus."
"I don't think about politics. I was a soldier: I was responsible for my men on the ground and my mission for the day. That's it."
"It's made me a better person in the lung run. My emotional range is much greater than it ever was. I'm more tolerant, more experienced ... I've had to learn to adapt and overcome."
Mike Trauner, retired soldier, Pembroke, Ontario

Retired soldier Mike Trauner lost parts of both legs in 2008 in an IED explosion and has been battling complications ever since. Now hes is training for the Invictus Games and will compete in rowing and cycling. Darren Brown / Postmedia

His wife Leah, salutes that very fact; that he has adapted and that he is finally overcoming the handicaps that life has handed him. "He'll try anything once, and if he fails, he'll try it again. He doesn't quit", she says of the man she now must daily provide assistance to in small ordinary matters of everyday life that he cannot manage -- yet -- on his own with his impaired physical facilities. This is  a man whose every minute of every day is carefully mapped out, hinging basically on whether his skin is in fair enough condition to bear his prosthetics; failing which he must rely on a wheelchair.

For a former man of action and pride in self, this has been a difficult transition for Mike Trauner. And a long period in the 37-year-old's life that has been devoted to making some progress. A man who received the Medal of Military Valour for conduct under fire because his "selfless and tenacious actions undoubtedly saved many Canadian and Afghan lives". He just happened to be the target in December 2008 of a remote-detonated IED. Whose blast caused shrapnel injuries to his legs, left forearm and hand, as well as a concussion impairing his short-term memory.

The result was that his left leg had to be amputated above the knee, right leg just below the knee while his left hand suffered 25 broken bones which a marathon operation saved. He has since learned to walk on two prosthetic legs. He has in the years since his traumatic injuries, gone through 18 surgeries; his hand had been torn in half, requiring an 11-hour operation to make it functional, but not perfectly so, once again. Massage therapy breaks up scar tissue and Botox injections -- up to 200 at a sitting -- treats the skin, sensitive under his prosthetic legs.

The pain in what is left of his limbs is never far from the surface. Needless to say, he is far from being the only veteran of Canada's mission of twelve years in Afghanistan. But just as every case, every incident causing mutilating injuries, and every individual behind the history and the pain is unique, this man certainly qualifies as a unique specimen of courage and determination. In September of 2017, he decided he would participate in the Invictus Games, an international athletic competition for injured soldiers, held in Toronto. He felt the structured training regimen would help his injured psyche; the goals, his progress, all of it positive.

Credit: Darren Brown    Trauner never felt comfortable behind a desk: He missed the relentless physical challenges of active service, its rough-hewn camaraderie and common purpose. He even missed the 6 a.m. fitness runs and the mid-winter bivouacs.

So now he trains six days a week, up to four hours each day, to prepare for the rowing and cycling competitions. His ambition has grown, along with his confidence, leading him to consider additional competition in the Paralympic Games. Because now he also feels he might conceive an interest in politics and run for public office at some future date, he also sees utility in treatment for post-traumatic stress. "I'd like to be able to sleep a lot better", he offers.

He knows that the remotely triggered IED responsible for his altered physical condition was made of an artillery shell placed atop a mortar bomb. It was sufficiently explosively effective to sever three major arteries, sending shrapnel into his left forearm, his hand, and destroying his legs. He worked for a number of years as a member of the Integrated Personnel Support Centre with the military, and then finally in May of 2017 retired from the military. His other life is now beginning.