Army veteran goes to great lengths to cheer on USA in World Cup final
VANCOUVER – Emotion and patriotism will be in plentiful supply during Sunday's Women's World Cup final, but for Christy Gardner the playing of the Star Spangled Banner will resonate more than most.
When the United States takes on Japan at BC Place, Army veteran Gardner, 33, will be there, accompanied by her set of crutches, her service dog, Moxie, and her younger sister Mariah Carrier.
The trio will be decked out in red, white and blue from head to toe (or paw), as the end stages of Fourth of July weekend coincides with the last stop on a journey that has taken them the across North America in order to cheer on the national team as it seeks World Cup glory.
"Before the start of the game, when they play the national anthems, I get a little teary eyed," Gardner told USA TODAY Sports. "I never used to, but since serving and being injured, just hearing the anthem brings out that much more pride."
Gardner was deployed in Korea's demilitarized zone as a military policewoman in 2006 when she sustained the injuries that upended her life. She is not allowed to talk in detail about how she was hurt, due to the nature of the mission, but sustained a direct hit that left her with skull and facial fractures, brain injuries that required extensive cognitive rehabilitation, a spinal cord injury that caused paralysis beneath the knee in both legs, and abdominal wounding. She later developed a seizure disorder and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In the years that have followed, she has undergone 22 surgeries, the most recent of which was to amputate the lower part of her left leg.
Doctors gave Gardner a long list of the things she would never be able to do again, such as live alone, bathe without assistance, drive a vehicle or work full-time. She listened, temporarily despaired, then proceeded to prove the physicians wrong on multiple counts.
A former scholarship field hockey and lacrosse player at Long Island University in New York, Gardner set about restoring her memory, her speech functions and a significant amount of her physical capacity. After taking advantage of a veterans assistance program that introduced her to sled hockey, she is now a member of the women's national team and is focused on being part of the team for the Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, in 2018.
This week, however, her athletic energy is channeled into the U.S. women's soccer team and its bid to lift the World Cup for the first time since 1999.
"It is absolutely cool that this game is on July 4th weekend, (with) the opportunity to be able to cheer for American independence at the same time as a U.S. victory," she said. "Anytime the U.S. wins all that patriotism comes out, whether it is us doing great in combat and battle and representing and maintaining freedom for our country or them winning and inspiring more to represent their country. Either on the battlefield or the sports field."
U.S. Soccer maintains a connection between its national teams and the armed forces. Prior to the tournament, The Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff presented each player on the roster of 23 with a set of dog tags that pairs them with a serviceman or servicewoman. A similar program was used for the men's team at the World Cup last summer.
Gardner says she feels a connection to the national team due to its empowerment of women, its famed "never quit" attitude its general sense of positivity.
She and Carrier have previously traveled to Boston Breakers' matches in the National Women's Soccer League and met national team members such as midfielder Megan Rapinoe, who posed for photos and signed autographs with her typical quirky enthusiasm. The only negative experience involved Hope Solo; after a game two years ago the sisters waited half an hour to meet Solo in an empty stadium parking lot, but, they say, she declined their autograph and photo requests.
When the World Cup fixtures were announced, Gardner immediately started planning a trip to the semifinal and final, convinced the U.S. would make it to the end of the tournament.
But just getting to Vancouver has been a mission in itself. Carrier, her able bodied sister, recently had surgery on a lacrosse injury that shredded her knee ligaments and is currently also on crutches.
The pair and Moxie awoke before dawn on the day of the semifinal at their home in Lewiston, Maine. Gardner went for an early morning medical appointment to clear her for travel, then drove six hours to Montreal. After screaming themselves hoarse as the side downed Germany 2-0, they battled through post-game traffic, reached their hotel at midnight and were on the move again four hours later, Vancouver-bound, with a connecting flight along the way.
"With the seizures I have to make sure I don't get too tired or dehydrated, that is something that can bring it on," Gardner said. "That's obviously two of the biggest things with a travel schedule like that. But I wasn't going to miss this, I couldn't. We had planned it way out and it means the world to be here."
The seizures is where Moxie comes into her own. A gorgeous golden retriever who gets attention from dog lovers wherever the group travel, she is much more than a pretty face.
Moxie is trained to gently tug at Gardner's arm if she senses that her owner needs rest or that a seizure is coming on, and is multi-talented enough to be able to fetch a phone or even dial 911 on a landline, or ring a neighbor's doorbell to summon help.
Gardner is not someone who seeks sympathy, nor enjoys it too much. When training for sled hockey she stopped working out at a local gym in part because people were too helpful, and now primarily lifts weights at home.
So much for the doctors' diagnosis, she works full-time as a farmhand, coaches a lacrosse team, travels extensively with the national sled hockey program and knows no other way than to stay busy.
Making her way through the gigantic Olympic Stadium in Montreal, from its parking lot in the bowels of the stadium, through the throng of crowds up ramps, down stairs and to her seat, might have been a challenge, but was perhaps not as much of a battle as simply finding time to fit this trip into her schedule.
But given her personal history, the affection and connection she still feels for the services and the fact that her own interest in sports was driven by watching the U.S. women win the World Cup in 1999, staying home was not an option.
"People are very kind," she said. "They come up a lot and tell us how cool they think it is that we have come all this way. But, a World Cup final with the U.S. in it on Independence Day weekend? How could I possibly miss that?"
