Area veteran to compete at Invictus Games in Toronto

Amy Dotson is a fighter.

The Air Force veteran, who lives in Jackson, is traveling to Toronto later this month to compete in the Invictus Games, an international adaptive sports competition for wounded or disabled service members that was created by Prince Harry of Great Britain.

A 1995 graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau, she joined the military after studying Spanish at Southeast Missouri State University, knowing only she wanted to work with languages but not knowing how.

She said she knew the military always needed linguistic specialists, so she joined the Air Force.

“I thought I’d pick up where I left off, with Spanish, but the military laughed and said ‘No, you get Arabic,’” Dotson said, laughing.

Amy Dotson, a retired Air Force veteran from Jackson, is headed to Toronto to compete in the Invictus Games 2017 on Sept. 23.Andrew J. Whitaker

She spent 63 weeks in an intensive, immersive program. In 2009, she went back to study French.

“It’s the fire-hose theory,” she said. “They blast you with it and see what sticks. It is a little painful, but it was an amazing experience all at the same time.”

Also in 2009, Dotson was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and post-traumatic stress syndrome, but for several years, she had other symptoms, including vertigo so severe, she fell and fractured her hand.

“I had a doctor who decided she needed to dig a little deeper, because there was probably something a little more going on,” Dotson said.

That doctor reviewed 13 years of Dotson’s medical records and recommended a brain MRI.

“The MRI showed white-matter lesions consistent with multiple sclerosis,” Dotson said.

A specialist operating off the base performed a spinal tap, Dotson said. Within a few days, she had confirmation of fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis.

“It was a relief because I had a direction,” Dotson said.

The first symptoms she knows for sure were MS were in 2006, she said.

“I think had the doctor on base not decided to do the brain MRI, I would still be wondering, ‘What was going on?’ So I’m able to say, ‘This is where I am, and what are we going to do about it?’”

Dotson said when she was diagnosed, she was beginning to have trouble running and doing push-ups, and she often was sick with symptoms that didn’t make sense.

“I wasn’t able to consistently be there in my classroom like I needed to be,” Dotson said. “As much as I would have loved the opportunity to stay in, they deserve someone who can do the job 100 percent of the time.”

At first, Dotson said, she got into running because it was a military requirement.

“I did have a doctor even before I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia tell me I would probably get to a point where I couldn’t run again. I told him that isn’t an option,” she said.

Even if she runs only once or twice per year, she said, she is determined to continue.

Adaptive sports are a great way for her to keep that promise to herself, she said.

Each branch of the military has its own Wounded Warrior program through the Department of Defense, mandated by Congress, Dotson said, and she joined the Air Force’s program.

Before she attended her first Wounded Warrior camp, she hadn’t ridden a bike in 30 years, she said.

It was intimidating at first, but by the Air Force trials in February 2015, “I was able to actually ride it and enjoy it, so that was a lot of progress for me,” she said.

Because of her times in those trials, she earned a spot in the 2016 Warrior Games at West Point, New York, where she earned nine medals, in cycling, swimming, discus and sitting shot put.

“It was an incredible experience, that’s for sure,” she said. “When I got the call, I was on the Invictus team, I was just overwhelmed.”

Dotson said 17 other countries will be competing, not just other military services and Great Britain and Australia, so this will be a new experience.

“I will do my absolute very best to give it my all,” Dotson said. “Whether my all will be enough, because it’s a different level, we shall see.

“I’m just ecstatic to try, to represent Team USA,” Dotson said.

Dotson said competing wouldn’t be possible for her or other wounded warriors without the help of several organizations.

“The Invictus Foundation Prince Harry started, it’s a blessing to people all over the world,” Dotson said.

The Department of Defense’s Wounded Warrior program also is vital, she said.

The Fisher House Foundation is providing airfare from New York to Toronto for competitors and is paying for airfare and lodging for two family members, she said.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation is providing airfare from home to New York for permanently retired service members such as Dotson, who retired in September 2015, she said.

Many, many other organizations are involved, including the VFW and VFW Auxiliary and Disabled American Veterans, or DAV.

“I’m so grateful,” Dotson said.

“The Wounded Warriors program’s purpose is to try to return service members to active duty so they don’t have to retire or discharge,” Dotson said. “They’ve had tremendous success not only with physical injuries, but also PTSD or traumatic brain injury.”

Dotson said she knows Veterans Affairs “takes a lot of heat, but they are really making tremendous efforts to do better for service members, and pairing with services to make vets’ transitions as seamless as possible. They take pretty good care of us.”

Her training regimen is intense, she said.

“I have coaches for each sport that send training suggestions that I try to follow. It’s a bit of a balancing act with training with fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis. I want to push myself, but I know that if I push myself too hard, it could set off a flare that could take days, weeks, or months to recover from. I have to listen to my body and train accordingly. When it comes to competition, however, I’m going to give it my all. I can rest when I get back home,” she said.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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