Meet Adaptive Athlete: Blake Henton

 

Blake grew up as an Army brat, living in California and Panama before making Texas home at the age of eight. He fell in love with soccer as a kid and played all the way through high school. Blake was also involved in the Boy Scouts of America, earning his rank as an Eagle Scout. He attended Texas A&M, but without much direction or passion, decided to look to the military for answers. 

Blake enrolled in the Army completing Boot Camp in Georgia followed by Airborne School. From there, Blake was selected into the Special Forces training pipeline. One of the first tests was a multi-week selection process where the group was tested in every way possible - physically fitness, leadership, basic know-how, and stamina, amongst other things. Blake passed selection, but due to an injury, realized he needed more experience and decided to wait to pursue Special Forces, opting instead to be deployed. 

In 2009, Blake was sent to Italy, stationed with the 173rd Airborne Brigade combat team, where he benefited from being around a very experienced team. Shortly after, he was deployed to the Kunar Province in Afghanistan with Battle Company 2-503. He worked as part of a Quick Reaction Force (QRF), a brigade that traveled to outposts, ensuring areas were safe for convoys to come through. During their explorations, they came across both gunfire and IEDs. 

Returning safely, Blake spent a few more months in Italy before returning to El Paso, TX. There he worked with mechanism infantry, mainly doing Stryker maintenance. Blake felt like it was time to move on from the Army and retired in August 2012. He returned to Texas A&M to pursue a bi-medical science degree and enjoyed his experience in college. 

In August of 2020, Blake and his dad were working to install flooring into their attic when Blake fell through the roof, landing on concrete paralyzing him immediately. He was briefly knocked out and woke up not being able to feel his legs. He vividly remembers the pain when paramedics straightened out his body before being airlifted to the nearest hospital where they diagnosed him as a T11/12 complete spinal cord injury.

His mindset since has been to not dwell on the accident and what’s out of his control. Blake feels it’s strangely given him a new direction and purpose to strive for. He went through in-patient therapy and since has been working on adjusting to life in a wheelchair. His days are consumed with exercise and making positive strides. 

As his injury is pretty new, Blake is hoping the ReDefine class will help him push him way beyond what he thinks he’s able to do and test his limits. He wants to be self-sufficient in every way, even down to things like sitting up on his own without using his hands to balance. By the end of the nine weeks, Blake wants to be equipped with knowledge on how to be his own trainer, taking ownership over his programming and having many tools in his tool belt to progress through his life and future goals.