By Shannon Collins, DoD News, Defense Media Activity
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- She’s competing in track and
field and indoor rowing, but medically retired Air Force Senior Airman Karah
Behrend couldn’t concentrate on training yesterday for the 2018 Department of
Defense Warrior Games at the U.S. Air Force Academy here.
For the first time, Behrend was going to meet her
18-year-old biological sister, Crystal Boyd, who lives in Puyallup, Washington.
After training, Behrend anxiously waited until she was
whisked off to the hotel for the meeting, which she said was surreal.
“I have been picturing this moment for a long time and for
it to finally happen, I couldn’t be happier,” Behrend said. “We keep in touch
through social media but we’re trying to make plans for me to meet our dad and
have them meet my family.”
“I’ve been extremely excited but I knew it would happen
sometime. I just didn’t know when,” Boyd said. “Throughout the time I’ve known
her, she’s gone through so much and watching her overcome everything right in
front of my eyes, in person here at the DoD Warrior Games, is an honor. She’s
always had the strength and now she’s going out and doing what we all knew she
could do. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Boyd said she also can’t wait to meet Behrend’s family.
“We’ve already talked about me visiting her and her family in Texas,” she said.
“I’m excited to meet my nieces.”
Call to Service
Claiming Gilford, Connecticut, and Bradenton, Florida, as
her hometowns, Behrend, 24, said she grew up moving around as a kid. She was
adopted when she was four years old by an Army Ranger.
“My brother and I were adopted because when my biological
dad got back from Desert Shield/Desert Storm, he wasn’t really the same person.
So my mom spilt with him pretty rapidly to get us out of the situation,” she
said. “As my mom told me about him, I was like, ‘I need to meet him. This is
half of me. I don’t know who he is.’ We somehow got in contact with him. I
think through his sister randomly. I talked to him for two hours that night and
found out I had a sister.”
“Our dad told me about her and our brother while growing up,
so I always knew about her. I just didn’t know her. She actually got in contact
with me. I never knew how to find her so I just waited,” Boyd said.
Behrend said she’s tried to meet up with her sister a few
times throughout the years, but it’s been difficult since she has been in the
Air Force for the past six years.
Shared Service
Behrend said she joined the Air Force as a communications
signals analyst because of her family’s military legacy. “It’s something I’ve
always wanted to do,” she said. “My grandfather served during the Vietnam era.
My biological father was in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. My adopted dad was
a Ranger down in Panama for the Panama crisis. It’s just something our family
does.”
When Behrend reconnected with her biological dad, she said
they had that military bond. “It was an immediate, talk about everything bond,”
she said. “I can call him and say, ‘This is going on; what do I do?’ He tries;
we’ve been working on rebuilding that relationship. He said he will always be
thankful that someone was able to come in and step into our lives to make sure
we’re okay.”
In 2015, Behrend had a surgical complication that resulted
in reflex sympathetic dystrophy. She said the neurological disorder impacts her
involuntary functions such as temperature control, blood pressure, heart rate,
pain, inflammation, swelling and other functions that a person doesn’t actively
control. When she runs, she said she feels like her leg will go out from under her.
“It causes a lot of pain, instability and weakness in my
right leg,” she said. “I also had a spinal injury from a car accident so it
messes with my left one too.”
Her sister has severe epilepsy. Behrend said her disability
is rare but since both of their disabilities are neurological, it’s an extra
bond they can share and talk about.
Behrend has two little children as well as her sister to
keep her motivated. “I don’t want my kids growing up thinking that if something
happens, you just stop your entire life,” she said. “It’s not what life it
about. Life it experiences. I don’t even see them as positive or negative
anymore. Just experience it. It pushes me in one way or another but I grow.”
She encourages others to push themselves as well. “It
doesn’t matter how early or late something happens or what he magnitude is. As
long as you do it with all of your heart and you put everything you have into
it, no matter what, it’s going to work,” she said passionately.
“Just because you have some kind of disability doesn’t mean
you can’t overcome it,” Boyd said. “You can’t allow it to stop you from doing
the things you want to do and the things you want to do. Even with obstacles,
you can overcome whatever you truly put your mind to. Neither Karah nor I let
our disorders define us. It’s a part of us, but it is not us.”
DoD Warrior Games
So far at these Warrior Games, Behrend has earned gold
medals in her disability category in the women’s discus and shot put
competitions. She broke a record in shot put in her category.
Boyd said she’s inspired not only by her sister but by the
athletes at her first games.
“Watching everyone here inspires me,” she said. “These
athletes decided to serve our nation, and even after they’ve been injured in
some way they still continue to serve by inspiring everyone around them.”
Boyd added, “Even though you have a disability, it doesn’t
define you. With a good support system, anything is possible. As long as you
put your mind to it, give some effort and trust those around you, things will
start moving. Don’t forget things take time. Don’t stress if things don’t
happen as fast as you want them to.”
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