Meet Adaptive Athlete: Jake Wright

Jake is from Fort Worth, Texas, where he grew up wrestling and riding dirt bikes and mountain bikes. He loves wrestling because of the competitiveness of the sport and the humility it imparts on its athletes, and says there’s nothing more fun than being out on a bike, piecing together a trail. He also enjoys going to the gym and pushing himself to improve. After high school, Jake wrestled in college and went through aviation school, becoming a commercial pilot for a major airline.

 

 In April 2024, Jake was in a dirt bike accident on a track in north Texas. He landed on the top of his head, compressing his spine and breaking T3-T5. His T5 vertebra slipped and bruised his spinal cord, leaving him with an incomplete SCI and putting him in a wheelchair. Post-accident, Jake has worked on regaining controllable movement below his injury. He has experienced peaks and valleys physically as well as mentally during his recovery, but chooses to focus on the things he can control in the moment as he works to get better. Although sometimes he feels frustrated that he cannot do all the things he did pre-injury, he makes an effort to go out and do as much as he can to avoid placing limitations on himself.

 

Jake’s personal goal is to reach a point where he can return to working full-time, as well as help others who have similar injuries keep living fulfilling lives. He hopes his ReDefine experience will help him reach his goal of walking again, even with a walker, as that will be a big step towards his goal of flying again. Mentally, Jake wants to improve his ability to handle both the highs and the lows of the injury recovery process. He also aims to learn how to implement proper training and recovery methods in his life.