'A life after injury': Military vet heading to Invictus games in Toronto
A Newfoundland man who was discharged from the military after suffering an ankle injury says he has a new lease on life by getting to represent his home province at the Invictus games in Toronto next month.
The games, which were launched by Prince Harry in 2014, are an international adaptive sports tournament where wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel from Commonwealth countries compete.
This year the games are being held in Toronto, and leading up to the event 150 athletes are taking part in a national flag tour which started simultaneously in Victoria, B.C. and Cape Spear, Newfoundland and will move across the country visiting bases, legions and Canadian monuments.
Tyson Tulk, the only competitor from Newfoundland and Labrador going to the games, left Cape Spear Wednesday to start his part of the flag tour.
He is competing in archery, shot put and powerlifting, despite the fact that a 2012 ankle injury cut short his dream of a life in the military.
"When I got released from the military it was hard to transition back to the civilian world. Because you're leaving another a family, you miss the brotherhood and comradery," he told CBC prior to leaving Cape Spear.
"Being back on the team it was like going home again."
Healing through sport
A lifelong athlete, Tulk thought the ankle injury meant his days of playing sports were over.
Now, after leaving Cape Spear before the big tournament in Toronto, he is more convinced than ever of the power of sport as a form of both physical and mental therapy.
"It's mind blowing. When you don't think you can ever do anything again, to get your life back," he said. "There's a life after injury, basically."
