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Tonora Shannon, 56, of St. Clair Shores is blind but that has never stopped her from giving things a try like snowmobiling and even skydiving. It’s the joy of living that’s led her to compete in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic (NDVWSC) in Colorado or Miracles on the Mountainside as it’s called.
“It’s all Pop talked about. How he was going to these games and how much he enjoyed it,” Shannon said, recalling the first time she heard an older veteran in her group talk about the competition for disabled veterans. “I heard him and I got excited. I said, ‘I want to go and do that.’”
But she was too young.
The games are for seniors 55 and up.
So, she waited and once she turned 55 she too was training along with Pop and other veterans who competed in a variety of veteran games held around the country.
“My first trip was to Alaska. Every year we go to a different state to compete,” said Shannon, who then walked to a cabinet in her apartment and pulled out a bin filled with ribbons and bib numbers.
“This is all of the medals I’ve won,” Shannon said while hoisting the box of medals that not only include the veteran games but other events like America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s 5K Turkey Trot.
Only she insists she neither trots or runs.
“There’s no reason for me to run now. Nobody is after me with a gun, so I walk,” said Shannon, whose humorous disposition is no doubt one of the reasons she’s game to try something at least once.
“It’s also hard to be afraid of something you can’t see,” said Shannon.
Besides winter sports she has also taken up golf.
“We play with the same size ball as other golfers but it’s colorful,” said Shannon.
She cannot see the ball but once she gets on the green someone taps the hole so she can adjust her putt.
“I don’t have a long drive but once I’m on the green I have a great short game,” she said.
“It’s all about memory,” added the mother and grandmother, who graduated from Oakland University and after jumping from one job to another decided to join the military where she became a data processor.
While serving in the military she had two heart attacks triggered by a hole in her heart, and physicians believe the trauma she endured during one of the falls led to glaucoma and her vision loss.
She and one other veteran from Macomb County will be leaving Sunday for the games that recognize the value that friendly competitions can play in the healing process. As a rehabilitative and adaptive sporting event, disabled veterans with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, orthopedic amputations and visual impairments are able to explore recovery by participating in downhill and cross-country skiing, sled hockey and other adaptive sports. Shannon and Curtis Jemison of Mount Clemens will be joining 400 other participants at the games, many of whom have become her friends.
“The Winter Sports Clinic is a premier and unparalleled sporting event that provides outstanding support for veterans to face and overcome challenges as part of a multi-faceted rehabilitation program,” said Kendra Betz, a physical therapist who has served for years as a seating and prosthetics coordinator for the event. “Our goal is to optimize veteran participation, well-being and quality of life.”
Shannon can attest to that.
“I will try anything once,” she said, before sharing a funny story about her first and last skydiving adventure. “I want to live my life to the fullest and I have a bucket of medals and memories to say I’ve tried to do that.”
Shannon will be attending the event with her sister Ida Shannon.
“I’m looking forward to just being outside,” she said. “It might be 28 degrees but you are so close to the sun there that you would never know it’s that cold.”
