When wounded warrior Liz Steeves raises the Invictus flag in Victoria today she’ll remember her grandfather, Thomas Hubert Scott.
“I’ll be thinking: ‘I did it, Grandpa. I got to the Games,” the retired air force member said Tuesday, as tears slid down her face.
Scott, a tail gunner with the Lancaster bombers in the Second World War, died Nov. 2, 2016 at the age of 91. And his death has devastated the granddaughter who followed in his footsteps.
“He’s the reason I stuck with the military so long. He was my hero, my mentor, my veteran, my everything,” said Steeves. “And doing Invictus makes it even more powerful for me because I know how proud he is of me for doing this. Through my military career, there were lots of ups and downs and he’d always pick me up, dust me off and say: ‘Keep going. You’ve got this.’ ”
What she has is a spot on Team Canada for the 2017 Invictus Games.
The Games, established by Prince Harry, are coming to Toronto Sept. 23 to 30 with 550 competitors from 17 nations. Troops who suffered both physical and psychological injuries will participate in a variety of sports, including golf, archery, cycling, wheelchair rugby, sitting volleyball, sitting tennis and powerlifting.
Steeves, who will compete as a powerlifter and in wheelchair tennis, has been chosen as the first flagbearer for the National Flag Tour, which will promote awareness of the Games in communities from Comox to Gander, N.L.
Raising the flag will also be emotional for Steeves because it means she’ll be keeping a promise to herself to soldier on.
“I’ve seen the bottom of the barrel before and I promised myself I would never become another statistic of a veteran committing suicide,” said Steeves, 32.
“I’ve been in and out of depression through my nine years of service. But I want to help people understand that it’s okay. You’re going to be okay. There are tools and resources and people that will help guide you to where you need to be. And you’re never, ever, alone. You just have to reach. Somebody will grab you.”
Steeves, who is originally from Gananoque, Ont. and now lives in Sooke, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in May 2007 at Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. She worked as a mobile support equipment operator driving cars, buses, forklifts and 16-tonne trucks. In 2009, she was transferred to CFB Kingston because she required surgery for personal reasons.
“The military supported me as if they were family. They took very good care of me because I was not well.”
In 2010, Steeves fell in a training exercise. She went head-first over a wall, compressing three discs in her neck and compromising her lumbar vertebrae.
“My body was not as well designed as it could have been. I’ve also crushed the patellas in both knees,” said Steeves, who uses robotic legs, known as an exoskeleton.
In April 2011, she was transferred to CFB Esquimalt. She met her husband Travis, a submariner on HMCS Victoria, three weeks after the move. They were married in September 2015.
But in 2016, Steeves was medically released from service because of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and her physical injuries.
“I felt like my life was falling apart all around me and there was nothing I could do. They decided I was no longer beneficial to the organization.”
She felt lost after her release and sought advice from lifecoach Bruno Guevremont, the owner of Crossfit Stasis in Langford. Guevremont, who was captain of Canada’s 2016 Invictus Games, encouraged Steeves to try out. Sure enough, she made the team.
“Invictus is like finding your family again, the family that you lost when you were released out of the military and you’re searching for something, but you just can’t figure out what it is you’re searching for. And all of a sudden they bring you together with 90 athletes who know how you feel and they are your family and they support you 110 per cent and push you every day, just like you are part of something. It’s very empowering to be part of the Invictus Games.”
Steeves said she isn’t chasing a medal.
“For me, it’s just going to be about the spirit of the Games and meeting so many people who share similar issues.”
The Invictus Games has given her the motivation and drive to understand herself better and to adapt to her injuries, both mentally and physically. She doesn’t need as much pain medication. Her body is stronger and the endorphins released into her brain through exercise make her feel more in control of everyday life.
Training is fun. Steeves said she just smiles when she plays wheelchair tennis because it’s a great sport.
“The Invictus Games will be good for all Canadians to realize you’re never alone,” said Steeves. “There’s always somebody there for you and you can do anything you want if you put your heart and soul into it. That can take you anywhere.”
Her dream of being in the Invictus Games has become a reality.
The Flag Tour stops at the B.C. legislature at 11:45 a.m. and CFB Esquimalt at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
ldickson@timescolonist.com
