ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — This August, athletes from around the world will be in Tokyo competing in the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Brandon Lyons, a handcyclist, is training for a spot on the USA Para-cycling Team and, along the way, has captured the hearts of many on the First Coast, including people in the Cimarrone neighborhood of St. Johns County where his parents live. Lyons spent three months this winter training in northeast Florida and shared his story with me.
"The goal is gold in 2020," he said.
Lyons is the type of guy who looks at the glass half full. He's the kind of person you want your kids to spend time around. He embraces adversity and finds a way to excel, even when the odds are stacked against him. His determination and perseverance helped him make history.
Three years to the day after he was paralyzed from the chest down, he became the first handcylist to live full time at the Colorado Springs Olympic & Paralympic Training Center. It's a milestone marked by a large sculpture of him now on display there.
"I really found a purpose and a passion in the sport and wanted to really go after this next goal," Lyons said. "So for them to give me a shot, I'm extremely grateful."
Though he grew up playing sports, Lyons has had only five years to master the sport he hopes earn him a place on Team USA.
Before the accident that put him on his current path, he was feeling pretty good about how his life was going.
"I had just moved down to Washington, D.C. with two of my good friends, starting off my career. I had money. I was doing financially well," he said.
During Memorial Day weekend in 2014, Lyons was out celebrating a friend's birthday. He dove off a pier not realizing it was shallow water.
"It was only about 3 feet deep of water. Boats were floating ... I thought it was a lot deeper. Dove in, came down fortunately l didn't break my neck, but I shattered my T5 T6 vertebrae, so right below my chest area," Lyons said.
He was instantly paralyzed. His mother, Kelly Bennie, got the call from the helicopter airlifting him to the hospital.
"Pure nightmare. You never think you're going to get that phone call. That always happens to the other family," she said.
Lyons remembers the doctor coming in and telling him he only had a one percent chance he would ever walk again.
"I immediately grasped on to that and thought, you know, I still have one percent, so there was still an opportunity that I was going to walk," he said. "I really just put all of my resources and investment into trying to better my recovery and getting back up on my feet again."
He had been training for his first marathon when he was injured and wasn't about to drop out of the race, so he switched his registration from runner to handcyclist.
"Got the handcycle, got out of the hospital and rode it for the first time. It was nearly impossible to even get out of the driveway," Lyons said.
The more he cycled, though, the better he got. Then, the day of the marathon, he was faced with another major challenge, a flat tire halfway through the course.
"I recall calling my mom and telling her what happened and she was like 'we'll have two options, you can either wait there till the marathon is over or you can somehow try to get to the finish line.'"
Determined, he rode the final 13 miles on a flat tire.
"I just think that's the way that I was, you know, driven, the way I grew up, the way I was raised from my parents," Lyons said.
His mom wasn't surprised to see that, just five months after becoming paralyzed, Lyons started driving a car again.
"So he drives. He lives on his own. He takes care of himself completely," Bennie said. "We sit back in awe and shock of what the kid is setting out to do, and he always achieves it. Now he's setting out to make Tokyo 2020, so let's see."
The road to the Paralympics started with a Facebook post. Brandon saw the U.S. Paralympic Cycling was looking for developmental athletes. He reached out was invited to try out.
"It's still crazy to me that they would even give a shot to a guy that never had any experience," Lyons said.
Bennie said it's "amazing" to see her son race and see what he's doing.
"It's very inspiring, and it's your only son and you're just so proud that he's working so hard towards a goal and that he's still achieving after such a life-changing injury," she said.
Handcycling has taken Lyons across the globe and, along the way, he's racked up multiple medals, including two silvers at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games and silver at the Para-cycling World Championships.
Since visiting Florida, he's incorporated swimming into his training.
"Since I don't have control from my chest down, really my hips, my lower half of my body, wants to sink," Lyons said.
Wearing a special wet suit he's now able to swim freestyle.
"It's not the fastest but it gets me back in the water again, and it feels great," He said.
Lyons works hard to live up to the mantra tattooed on his arm: "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."
"I hope to show someone that, if you really put your mind to it, you can actually achieve anything," he said.
Lyons is now back in Colorado training and will find out in June if he lands a spot on the USA Para-cycling Team. He has a group of supporters on the First Coast cheering him on, inspired by his passion and determination.
"We are, as a community, looking forward to continuing this journey on his quest to gold in Tokyo," said Dawn Marconi, who lives in Cimarrone. "He's our inspiration."