HFOT Veterans Army Specialist Luis Puertas and Marine Corporal Raymond Hennagir III are heading to Tokyo for the 2020 Paralympic Games, which begin Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.
Luis, who received his HFOT home in 2011, is competing in the 200m sprint for track and field. He lost both legs while serving in Iraq in 2006 and started running the following year. “I wanted to recover, get out of the hospital, and get on with my life. Adaptive sports gave me the initial push I needed to get my engine rolling,” he says.
Raymond is on the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby team. After losing both legs while serving in Iraq in 2007, he was encouraged to play wheelchair basketball by one of his recreational therapists at Walter Reed. He switched over to wheelchair rugby because he was drawn to the physicality of the sport and realized he could compete at the highest level. HFOT will be building Cpl Hennagir’s HFOT home in Texas.
Raymond and the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby team took the silver medal on Saturday, Aug. 29, after a hard-fought match with Great Britain.
Please join us in wishing Luis and Raymond the best of luck!
You can watch coverage of the Paralympics on NBC, NBCSN, the Olympic Channel, and on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. For more information visit www.paralympic.org.