Meet Adaptive Athlete: TOMMY BURKE

 

 Thomas was born in Two Harbors, Minnesota, but moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. As a kid, sports were a huge outlet for him, however with financial struggles, Thomas wasn’t able to play for the school teams. Instead he just kept active around the neighborhood. When Thomas was 17 he moved down to Florida to be with his grandparents. He credits that decision with shaping the rest of his life, as his grandparents gave him a household full of love, discipline and hard work. At his high school in Florida, he had a teacher who was retired an Air Force veteran. That got Thomas thinking about joining the military, along with knowing his dad’s side had many retired military members.

After graduation, Thomas pursued the Air Force, enlisting in June 2000. He trained at a technical school, where he learned to cook, maintain Air Force Inns, gym training and equipment, mortuary affairs, and MWR base related activities. He was deployed in July of 2003 to Kuwait. His job included a lot of fast paced operations and heavy lifting which ultimately lead to the start of his back issues. He has an annular tear in his L5-S1, along with degenerative disc disease with facet arthritis. Today, he has lasting chronic pain and deals with depression. 

Through the nine week ReDefine program, Thomas is focused on reshaping his body to respond better to helping him live an overall fuller and happier life. He is excited about the opportunity to retrain his mind, body, and spirit, and put in some sweat equity!