Two Naperville women will participate in National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic

Two Naperville veterans will participate in the 38th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen-Snowmass, Colorado, from April 1-7.

Sixty-three-year-old Susan Dochterman and 57-year-old Cheryl Gerdes will join 400 fellow disabled veterans from across the United States, supported by approximately 600 volunteers and 200 sponsors.

“I’m so happy for the opportunity,” said Gerdes, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2012. “It means being able to determine what I can actually do now in my new body.”

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which cosponsors the clinic with the nonprofit Disabled American Veterans, the five-day event offers participants adaptive sports therapy opportunities, including skiing, sled hockey, scuba diving, snowmobiling, and rock climbing.

“It’s an introduction to adaptive sports,” said Kacie Janowski, team coach and Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital recreation therapist. “When they do an event, they’ll have one or two staff members with them who are experts in the activity.”

Dochterman hopes to finish her first cross-country skiing event since her diagnosis.

“I’m a little nervous,” she explained. “I haven’t cross-country skied in years, but I believe in myself.”

The Winter Sports Clinic, also called “Miracles on the Mountainside,” began in 1987 and has helped thousands of Veterans living with physical disabilities and unseen wounds, VA noted.

“Being able to be part of a team is really important to me,” Dochterman said. “I miss working. I was a good teammate, and I was a good soldier too. Being able to be part of something bigger than me again is very special.”

Dochterman and Gerdes receive care at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and will join Kankakee’s Anthony Woodson in representing the facility at the Winter Sports Clinic. Area veterans interested in joining the Hines Adaptive Sports Program can call (708) 202-3631 for additional information.