The Indian American non-profit founder has led 8 other amputees too in climbing the mountain.
AB Wire
An Indian American woman in San Antonio, Texas, Mona Patel, 43, who had her right leg amputated below the knee when she was 17 after a drunk driver hit her, and now runs the non-profit San Antonio Amputee Foundation, has achieved an incredible task – she has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and not only that, has led eight other amputees, all men, to climb the mountain too, last year.
“I truly did not see myself here,” 43-year-old Patel, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her two daughters, told FoxNews.com, of her climbing achievement and her help for other amputees. “I know that I’m here because my accident was a platform that I was fortunately able to use for good— for myself and my community.”
When she was 16 Patel enrolled in college courses at California Polytheistic University in Pomona, Calif., to help increase the chances of her future spouse and parents-in-law allowing her to have a career outside of the home. At the time of her accident, she had been talking to the son of her mother’s longtime family friend, and the two planned to marry. However, the necessary foot amputation caused the man’s parents to change their minds about the marriage, as she had become an amputee.
The two married in 1995 despite his parents’ disapproval, and it wasn’t until seven years after she had her accident— a timeframe that included twenty surgeries and the below-the-knee amputation— that her in-laws finally came around as she became involved in community work. In 1997, Patel saw a void for amputee resources in San Antonio, where she was getting a master’s degree in social work, and started a support group through the Amputee Coalition, the Fox News report said.
“I’ve always wanted to go into some field of helping people,” said Patel, who also studied behavioral science at Cal Poly, and earned another master’s degree in psychology at Pepperdine University.
Her marriage ended after 15 years, but Patel came to dedicate more of her life to helping others with limb differences. She began working for MK Prosthetics in 2005 and said she helped develop its holistic approach. At the company, Patel helped spearhead legislative efforts to help improve insurance coverage of prosthetics by meeting with legislators, attending hearings and testifying in front of committees.
“Thousands of Texas amputees now have better insurance coverage— thanks to all the people who helped me and believed in my leadership,” Patel said.
In August 2014, Patel’s organization, the San Antonio Amputee Foundation, earned 501©(3), or nonprofit, status after about two decades of informal operation at Patel’s charge. The nonprofit helps connect amputees to local resources, like prosthetics, and provides needs-based financial assistance for home and car modifications. But the foundation’s biggest tenet remains its support group, which about 30 to 50 people attend each month.
“[The support group] is very, very diverse in terms of ages, levels of amputation, circumstances, causes of amputations and stages of where they are in their recovery process,” Patel said. “We celebrate each other; it’s just become another family.”
About four years ago on Match.com, Patel met her boyfriend, George Jahant, whom Patel credits with encouraging her to seek out and tackle new physical challenges, said the Fox News report.
Jahant worked for 31 years in the SWAT unit of the San Antonio Police Department and inspired her to complete a 50-hour Navy SEAL training regimen, SEALFIT, that Patel said “transformed my body.”
“When that was over, he asked me, ‘What’s your next goal?’” Patel recalled. “I said, ‘Let’s tackle Kilimanjaro.’”
Before Patel would take on all 19,341 feet of Mt. Kilimanjaro— the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world— Jahant wanted to see how she would fare with less elevation. He suggested Machu Picchu, in Peru, which stands at 7,972 feet high and which travelers can access by hiking the Inca Trail. In June 2013, they climbed the mountain in four days.
“As soon as George [and] I came back from doing the Inca Trail is when my mind started shifting from Kilimanjaro being just a personal goal to including other amputees,” she said.
After securing a medical crew of four people, Patel began recruiting fellow amputees to hike Kilimanjaro with her, prioritizing individuals’ personalities to create a harmonious team. She trained for the climb in late 2014 with the eight amputees whom she would lead. They called themselves the Cloud Walkers.
“Our motto was, ‘For those willing to overcome, we will show the world you can walk among the clouds,’” Patel said.
For a year leading up to the December 2015 hike, Patel helped outfit the men with proper gear from local retailers, and ensured her group was properly vaccinated and given medication prior to departing. She also fundraised, primarily with sponsors, to cover trip expenses. A $25,000 donation from San Antonio-based James Avery jewelers helped cover trip funds for a three-man film crew that would document the Cloud Walkers’ trek. The group is fundraising and looking for a distributor to turn the footage into a documentary.
Patel said the biggest challenge as a team was summit day, when The Cloud Walkers had to get through 20 to 24 hours of straight hiking in 30 mph winds and temperatures below freezing.
Jahant, Patel’s boyfriend, said she takes advantage of being challenged mentally and physically, a reality that’s evidenced not only by pursuits like Kilimanjaro but also with managing her nonprofit, working her full-time job with the Hanger Clinic, and raising her two daughters.
“It’s funny because when they look at her, they just know she’s tough, and she almost has a different demeanor with them about, ‘No whining, let’s go!’” Jahant told FoxNews.com. “But she also has this very nurturing side that when the wires get crossed and stuff, they know she loves them and she’s pulling for them.”
1 Comment
Mona, you are just as beautiful and inspiring as you were to your pts at SASH. Don’t know if you remember me or not. I was Jim Walker’s COTA on the Unit above the medical/dental unit at SASH. last heard that you had resigned and moved to Dallas/Ft Worth around 2003 or 04. I had heard some rumbling about you doing this a few months ago.
I had an brain aneurism, in 08, about died. Great to hear this.