Marine Who Lost Leg to Bomb in Afghanistan Will Walk 205 Miles in 11 Days — With 50-Lb. Bag on His Back
Zachary Craig for C4 Energy Nick Perales
Growing up in the small Texas town of Bandera, Nick Perales never did anything halfway in the classroom and the sports he loved, including baseball and soccer.
"He literally excelled at everything," says his younger sister Larissa. And he was always up for a new challenge. "I remember our mom being like, 'What's Nick gonna be doing now?'" Larissa, 32, recalls. The answer? "Something crazy and above and beyond," she adds.
Perales, now 33, continued to push his limits over the years: he completed over a dozen grueling Spartan obstacle races, a marathon distance hike through the New Mexico desert; finished 24 hours straight of CrossFit's toughest workouts; and co-founded a thriving nutrition and coaching company, The Transformation Project, with his sister.
These accomplishments from the last 12 years are even more impressive considering the retired Marine Corps vet lost half his right leg and suffered other severe injuries when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on Feb. 2, 2011 in Afghanistan, where Perales was a scout sniper.
Nick Perales Nick Perales in the hospital in Afghanistan, with one of his teammates who saved his life
"I took one step. And the next thing I knew, I was being thrown through the air, against the ground, really hard," says Perales.
"I instantly realized that I had just stepped on a bomb. I just saw this bright red flash just kind of blow up beneath me," he continues. "I was laying there with my legs basically blown off, one mangled, and my hips fractured."
"I was ready to give up. I wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep," he adds. "I told my guys, 'Tell my family I love them. I'm fine with this. I'm good.'"
But his fellow Marines, and then teams of doctors and nurses, kept him alive. "I didn't know I was going to have a second chance at life," he says. "And I'm forever grateful for them."
In a tribute to those who saved him and friends he's lost at war and due to his desire to "embark on a monumental journey" to raise awareness for wounded veterans, at first light on the morning of Nov. 1 Perales began a 205-mile, 11-day walk with a 50-lb. rucksack on his back.
Sebastian Gallegos Sebastian Gallegos, left, and Nick Perales
He plans on walking about 20 to 25 miles a day from his Houston home to arrive at the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio — where he spent over two-and-a-half years undergoing multiple operations on his left leg to save the limb and extensive rehabilitation.
Perales' goal is to finish by noon on Nov. 11, Veteran's Day, and he'll be documenting the feat on his Instagram page, @nick.transformationproject.
"It didn't feel like I was challenging myself enough, and I didn't feel like I was making as big of an impact that I wanted to, that my heart wanted to," Perales says of the idea for this journey, called The Weight of It: A Walk for Remembrance.
RELATED: Former Marine Whose Leg Was Amputated Poses as 1940s-Style Pin-Up for Calendar to Benefit Veterans
Sponsored by C4 Energy, a drink brand, the journey is part of the company's partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. (You can donate to Wounded Warrior here.)
"I feel like I'm in debt, to not only our veterans, our first responders, but society in general, you know?" he says. "And I really just want to do whatever it is that I can to give back to others."
Nick Perales Nick Perales and his dog, Benny
The walk is a team effort. Larissa and many Marine Corps colleagues will be joining Nick along the way, including close pal Sebastian Gallegos, 33, of San Antonio, who hopes to do the entire walk with his pal.
"This is the hardest thing that I've ever known that he's done," says Gallegos, who lost his right arm during combat in Afghanistan in 2010 as a Marine Corps rifle team leader. The pair met in the hospital as they recovered together.
"But he's a different level of elite," says Gallegos. "He's so physically fit."
Nick Perales Nick Perales in Afghanistan
It's a tremendous turnaround for Perales from the months after the explosion. Haunted by memories of the day, unable to walk and enduring numerous operations on his remaining leg, Perales numbed his emotions through pain killers, sleep meds, junk food and alcohol.
"I didn't feel confident," he says. "I didn't want to be around other people."
RELATED: Former Marine Whose Leg Was Amputated Poses as 1940s-Style Pin-Up for Calendar to Benefit Veterans
By November 2012, almost two years after his injuries, Perales had gained about 80 lbs. on his 5-foot-6 frame and wanted to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball on Nov. 10. He tried getting into his dress blues, adorned with shiny medals, but could not get the upper buttons of the neck collar to close.
"I remember looking at myself in this bathroom mirror, and I was just instantly drowned in a sense of disappointment," Perales recalls.
Nick Perales Nick Perales
"I felt like I just let everyone down — my teammates that risked their lives to save mine, the MedeVac team that risked their life to come save mine, the doctors, the surgeons, the PTs, the OTs, my family," he says.
"I felt I was just messing up this second chance," he continues. "In that very moment I took every pill I had and threw it in the trash. I took all the food out of my cabinets, my pantry, my freezer, and I threw it away. I needed to start over."
Perales soon adopted a healthy diet and lost all the weight. He also took on athletic challenges — including the first Spartan race he did with Gallegos almost a decade ago — even when he wasn't in shape.
"He signed us up for this 14-mile death race," says Gallegos. "And it ended up taking 14 hours. We finished in the middle of the night. He never gave up."
Nick Perales Nick Perales and sister Larissa Perales
Perales also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with other combat veterans, and for the last two years took on the herculean challenge of doing 24 hours of the notoriously tough CrossFit Hero Workout to raise money for Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, which helps first responders and veterans.
After leaving the house he shares with his dog, Benny, Perales spends his mornings in the gym doing body-building, with afternoons at Igneous, a local CrossFit.
For the 205-mile trek to San Antonio, he'll be wearing a brace on his left leg that he needs for support. His rucksack will hold an extra prosthetic, a spare brace and a 25-lb. weighted vest.
RELATED: Jon Stewart Shares His Emotional Reaction to Signing of Veterans Health Bill: 'I'm a Mess'
Why carry the loaded rucksack? "I think about the burden and the load our nation's heroes and their loved ones carry around every day," he says, "and it's a reminder for me to make sure they are always at the top of my mind."
While Perales has not trained for the walk outside of his daily fitness routine, he's not worried about finishing.
"I kind of use my day-to-day as it already is to be physically prepared," he says. "I think a lot of this is going to be mental training, being able to tap into that next level."
For those who know Perales best, there is no doubt he'll finish. "If you could have seen our family's faces when he told us about this, there was no surprise in our eyes," says Larissa. "And he does it with the most goodness in his heart."
