Bartlett quadriplegic veteran gets gold in wheelchair games

Robert Arciola, of Bartlett, joined the U.S. Army in 1983 and five years later was in a severe motorcycle accident that left him a quadriplegic.

Arciola, now 46, participated in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games earlier this month in Pennsylvania, where he placed first in three different competitions. About 600 veterans participated, competing in 17 different sports.

Athletes compete in a variety of divisions and classes based on experience and physical ability. Arciola competed in five events, earning the gold medal in bowling, trap shooting and field events, a silver medal in handcycling and no medal in the air gun event.

“I'm part of a team and we train together for the game's events,” he said. “It also gives me a chance to meet other veterans.”

As president of the Vaughan chapter in Westchester of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, he hopes to one day bring the Wheelchair Games to Chicago.

“This event keeps getting larger,” he said. “It means we're doing the right thing.”

The games results were a high point in a life that has included more than its share of difficulty.

Arciola enlisted in the Army in early 1983, 10 days after he married his high school sweetheart, Barbara.

For the next few years, he was stationed at several different army bases, including ones in Virginia and Georgia. He spent 18 months in Germany, where his son, Kyle, was born. His daughter, Kristen, was born less than two years later.

In 1988, he was transferred to Fort Drum in upstate New York and on July 23 of that same year, he was in a severe accident that left him paralyzed.

“I was a passenger on a motorcycle with one of my peers on my way to the store to get aspirin for my wife,” Arciola recalled. “I got a helmet from my subordinate and we went.”

“A couple of turns later, I noticed a sharp curve coming up and I lifted my hand to tap my friend on the shoulder and tell him,” he added. “The next thing I know, the motorcycle came out from under me.”

Arciola recalls then hitting the foundation of a house.

“Thankfully, I had a helmet on, but right away, I knew something wasn't right. But when I crashed, I was just more concerned for my family,” he said. “I said to God, ‘Just keep me alive for the sake of my family.'”

His spinal cord was injured. After surgery, he completed five and a half months of rehabilitation, was discharged from the Army and moved back to his family in Barlett.

Like his father, Arciola's son, Kyle, enlisted in the army and has completed two tours of duty in Iraq.

“He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps,” said Arciola. “I'm very proud.”

His daughter, Kristen, was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 13 and underwent chemotherapy treatment.

“She went on a mission trip to the Caribbean and had a great time,” Arciola recalled.

When she returned from abroad, the lung cancer came back and Kristen died at age 17, six years ago.

Arciola, his wife and their two dogs now reside in their family home in Bartlett.

“She is my main caregiver,” said Arciola of his wife, to whom he's been married for 28 years. “There are also certified nurse assistants who come to my home five times a week.”

Arciola graduated from Judson University in 2002 with a degree in management and leadership, and computer information systems. He now does general office work at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office.

He has been involved in several community organizations, most notably Paralyzed Veterans of America, which puts on the Wheelchair Games along with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

He stays active by exercising on his handbike.

“Before this competition, I biked seven to 10 kilometers per day,” he said.

“I'm a self-motivator and have an outgoing personality,” he added. “Having a disability as severe as mine, it gives me a greater appreciation of life and of the abilities that I do have.”