David Lee Rolls on With Determination, Will

By Pete Gaughan

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS – Every youth dreams of the day he turns 21.  New freedoms, new wheels and a lifestyle he’s plotted for almost a decade.

There isn’t much that won’t be done once the magic number is hit.  Traveling the country and having fun is the ticket for some, while others plot the course of a seeming endless future. 

David Lee fit into both categories like a glove. 

He had just finished his third year at the University of Colorado and was cruising in style of a friend’s 750 Ninja motorcycle.  He had just completed the last exam of his junior year the day before en route to a double major in biology and kinesiology.

 “Me and my friends had kicked around the day before and we were getting ready for the summer to start,” he said from his mother’s home in Cleveland Heights.

 “I remember falling into a creek that day, but not being injured.  The next day, I borrowed a buddy’s bike and headed out of town.”

 He said he traveled well over 400 miles that day through rain, sleet and snow, but still had a great time giving some girls a ride and feeling like Tom Cruise in the movie “Top Gun.”

 “I got back into town (Boulder) and was a half-mile from my house when a car turned left in front of me and that was it,” he said.

 The impact was so intense his helmet flew off his head and he was tossed 40 feet in the air.  After his decent from what constituted a four-story building, ribs, nose, skull and back were broken.

Lee was dead fro two minutes, remained in a coma for six days and was in intensive care for two weeks.

 Then on June 5, 1990 – his 21^st birthday – he had back surgery.  His spine had broken at the Thoracic 6-7 level (mid-back), which paralyzed him from the lower rib cage down to his toes.  There was no hope of any recovery.

 “I had no memory for three months,” said Lee, a 1987 University School graduate.

 “But I realized that I was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life and I felt like part of me was missing.”

“I wanted to die at first.” 

It wouldn’t be hard to blame a 21 year-old who wanted to end his life after finding out his new set of wheels didn’t come close to resembling what his buddies were tooling around in.

 But the human body and mind are an incredible machine, especially in Lee’s case.

 “It took over a year to be able to deal with the fact I would never get out of the chair,” the now 25 year-old said.  “But with the support of my family and friends, I was able to survive.” 

What Lee has done is not just survive, but prosper.  He keeps his quest to enjoy life to the fullest, just as he had done prior to the accident.

 One year after the crash, he thought he was ready for school again, and off to Boulder he went.  But his brain still needed time to heal, and school wasn’t the place to do that.

Instead of mental strain, he turned to physical training: wheel-chair racing.  His first effort was a 10K event.  He finished last.

 The key word in that statement is that he finished.

 “Once I got hooked on racing, I just kept training,” Lee said.  “I was so happy to finish that 10K, it got me excited to train harder.” 

In October of 1992, he placed 12^th out of 35 racers in a Detroit marathon (26 miles).  Now, fully bitten by the bug he raced in 20 marathons the next year before moving to Las Vegas in 1993 to live with an uncle and continue training. 

Once in Vegas, he decided to take up swimming.  From that grew a fascination with triathlons (swim, bike, run/wheel). 

In August 1993, he attempted his first triathlon along with 4,000 other people.

 “The weather was terrible,” he said, adding there was just one other wheelchair athlete – John Franks of Los Angeles.  “It took me four hours.  Franks finished in two-and-a-half hours.”  But once again, Lee crossed the finish line.

In a triathlon the contestants swim 1.5 miles, go 40K with the bike and race 10K.

 Lee, who currently lives in Boulder, is able to swim by putting both legs in a brace that keeps them straight and a buoy between his feet. 

The biking part of the race is done with a hand-cycle powered by his arms (cost: $2,500).  The racing event is with a specially designed wheelchair (cost: $1,500). 

“All I want to do now is compete in the Ironman in Hawaii.  It’s the elite challenge of all – 2.4 mile ocean swim, 112 miles on a bike, and then a full marathon, 26 mile race,” he said. 

But a few more obstacles stand in Lee’s way before he can get a shot at the event in Hawaii. 

First there is a problem of finding a sponsor.  “There are a number of costs involved with racing all over the country,” he said. “Many of the runners get prize money, but in wheelchair competition, it’s “Hey, nice job, we love what you are doing.  Thanks for coming, keep up the good work.”

The second hurdle is that the folks in Hawaii haven’t been too quick to let Lee in the race.

 “Franks sued the Ironman committee, so they allowed him in after a few years of battle,” said Lee.  “What I’ve been told is that they already have a wheelchair athlete.”

 “I’m trying to earn my way in and get a shot.  That’s all I want – a shot to try the Ironman.”