![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image1.jpeg_412db1.jpg\")
A fellow veteran, Brad Soden, of the National Marine Corps Business Network and LEVO USA, would answer those questions in a surprisingly stark way that I didn\u2019t see coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The random text that I\u2019d received from Brad one afternoon couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time. My to-do list at work kept getting extended all week by conference call after conference call and meeting after meeting, in addition to all of my back-burnered projects that weren\u2019t aging well. On top of it all, the first major snowstorm of the season was about to shutdown the D.C. and Virginia areas, which would serve to sabotage any progress I\u2019d hoped to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Brad had just informed me that a veteran nonprofit and wheelchair company want to donate a LEVO C3 Standing Power Wheelchair to me. \u201cBy the way,\u201d he continued, \u201ca LEVO rep will be at your house in two days to test a demo, take your measurements, and deliver a customized standing chair to you, funded by the guys at the National Marine Corps Business Network.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took a moment of disbelief, then anxiety, then pessimism, then hope, and finally acceptance to wrap my head around what was about to happen. Standing up. Me. After 17 years. I\u2019d rolled across graduation stages at the University of San Diego and Harvard Business School. I\u2019d rolled on beaches in Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Aruba. I\u2019d testified before Congress, competed in adaptive sports, delivered commencement and keynote addresses, and held my infant son for the first time \u2014 all in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, I faced the intimidating prospect of reconnecting with the Marine who stood at attention whenever the national anthem played. Or stared into the sobering gaze of over 400 young Marine Corps recruits I\u2019d trained as I shook their hands on graduation day. I was about to reincarnate the Marine \u2014 the former me \u2014 who I thought had died in the violent crash 17 years ago that left me paralyzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two days later, I watched with nervous excitement as the LEVO representatives unloaded the standing power wheelchair in my driveway. The moment felt surreal as they followed my wife, Tammie, into our kitchen and began to explain the chair\u2019s features and functions, very matter of fact, like a cardiac surgeon bluntly explaining how she was about to perform a triple bypass right before the anesthesia kicked in. I transferred into the chair, strapped in, and reflected on the last 17 years of my life in about 17 seconds as I prepared to relive a moment I hadn\u2019t had since I was 10 months old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To explain to someone, who has never experienced paralysis or lower limb immobility, what it feels like to slowly rise to your feet after almost two decades in a wheelchair would be like trying to explain color to a person born blind. So I didn\u2019t try. I simply pushed the joystick forward and ascended. I could feel every muscle in my legs stretching and bones straightening until the chair\u2019s standing feature brought my body perpendicular to the floor for what seemed like the first time ever. I was standing again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t know what it feels like to win a billion dollars in a lottery or play the lead role in a blockbuster action movie. But no experience could compare, in my view, to seeing the look on my 5 year old\u2019s face when he saw me upright for the first time in his life. Or the tears that poured from my wife\u2019s eyes as she looked up at me instead of down while we tightly embraced. My first thought in that moment was \u201cevery veteran who has suffered paralysis should have this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My second and final thought that day: the person inside of you doesn\u2019t die when you face a life-altering circumstance. He or she simply waits until you\u2019re ready to be stronger than your excuses and literally take a stand when life presents that opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sherman Gillums Jr. is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer and chief advocacy officer at AMVETS, a congressionally chartered national veterans service organization representing the interests of more than 20 million veterans. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Marine veteran on what it’s like to stand up for the first time years after the crash that paralyzed him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":92947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":97,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["commentary","opinion","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"commentary"},"5":{"categories":["commentary","opinion","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"commentary"},"6":{"categories":["commentary","opinion","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"commentary"},"7":{"categories":["commentary","opinion","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"commentary"}}},"categories":[97,17],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5169],"class_list":["post-91915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ALJI4VOIHZG3PL3XDPQT4ZVZNM","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/01\/29\/a-vets-perspective-on-standing-up-for-the-first-time-in-years\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image3.jpeg.jpg\")