(Aug. 25, 2016) Ocean Pines resident Jeremy Goetzinger is looking for support and sponsorship for several upcoming competitive handcycle races in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Dover and New York.
The 41-year-old Washington, D.C. native lost his legs and several fingers on one of his hands because of Buerger’s Disease, a rare condition that affects circulation. He was living in Las Vegas at the time, working as an electrical engineer.
“It was seven years worth of surgeries,” he said. “[Buerger’s Disease] is real rare. It only happens to men between the ages of 20 and 30, and it’s strictly caused by smoking. There’s no cure for it.”
During a long period of rehabilitation and recovery Goetzinger starting become involved with adaptive sports, which allowed him to stay active.
“I was getting real down and depressed,” he said. “I had a son that I couldn’t play soccer with, so I reached out to the city of Las Vegas and they had a program where they let me borrow a handcycle and they had little clinics around the city. They talked me into playing wheelchair basketball.”
While playing for the Las Vegas Silver Bandits, a now-defunct International Basketball League team, he helped the team improve from 42nd place to capturing a national championship during an impressive two-year turnaround.
He also became involved with Achilles International, an organization that promotes disabled athletes, during that time.
“They kind of took me under their wing for a couple years and I started doing marathons and handcycling,” he said. “I did four or five marathons with them, all in Las Vegas, and I’d work with the kids in the community, doing handcycle camps where I’d ride with them for a couple miles and teach them how to use the bike, and about disability awareness.”
Goetzinger wound up back on the East Coast after meeting a Maryland native, Katie, who would become his wife. The couple decided to relocate to the Eastern Shore and start a family.
For about four years, he has been focusing on raising their young daughter, Paisley Rain, while Katie works for Ocean Pines Parks and Recreation. He also has a 17-year-old son from a previous marriage, Jacob, who lives in Oregon.
“Now she’s a little older, so I’m starting to get back out there with wheelchair sports,” Goetzinger said. “Last year we raised money for the handcycle I have now, which is a recreational version that was $3,000. We got help from Choptank Electric, West OC Fitness, the Ocean Pines Tennis Center, and then a bunch of friends and family.”
With that new handcycle, he competed in and won the Island to Island Half Marathon and 5K race in April.
Now, he plans to enter four more marathons this fall, starting with the Baltimore Running Festival on Oct. 15, followed by competitions in Dover and Washington, D.C., and ending with the New York City Marathon on Nov. 6.
In New York, more than 120 handcyclists are expected to compete in an event that is watched each year by more than one million spectators.
However, entry fees and travel expenses associated with those events are not cheap, and Goetzinger is trying to raise $1,800 through his GoFundMe page. As of press time, he was about halfway there.
“We just have a little bit more to come up with, since I’m a stay-at-home dad,” he said. “We’re going to do the events either way, but anything would help.”
Beyond simply competing for competition’s sake, Goetzinger said he’s hoping to raise awareness and potentially launch several local programs for local athletes with disabilities. Currently, there aren’t many of those types of offerings in the county.
“From what I’ve found, there’s a small group, Athletes Serving Athletes, out of Salisbury, but there’s no team sports,” he said. “We’re going to try and do and Eastern Shore adaptive program – whether it helps one or 10 people – and it will be for all ages.”
Wheelchair tennis, soccer, basketball and lacrosse, as well as racing, are possibilities, he said.
Goetzinger is hoping to win two of the four races outright – in Baltimore and Dover – and he has his sights set on making the 2020 U.S. Paralympic Cycling team, which will compete on the international stage in Tokyo.
“I think I can make it to that level,” he said. “We’re trying to raise some awareness for this to get me off the ground and get people to kind of know me around here, and maybe they’ll start asking questions.
“I stop every single person I see with a prosthetic or in a wheel chair an ask them, ‘Do you play any sports? Do you ride bikes?’ And their answer is always no, they can’t afford it,” he continued. “That’s going to be one of our biggest things – to try to get them local and federal grants so they can participate.”
For now, he said his biggest fans are his wife and two children, who often accompany him during the competitions – both as spectators and as participants.
“They love it,” he said. “It’s hard to keep my daughter off the bike before and after the races, but we do the family rides too. And my son comes every holiday and the whole summer. We just did the Freedom 5K in Ocean Pines together, and he runs cross country track at his high school and is hoping to go to Oregon State.”
For more information visit www.gofundme.com/27a5pqvk, or search “2016 Adaptive athlete support” at www.gofundme.com.
The 41-year-old Washington, D.C. native lost his legs and several fingers on one of his hands because of Buerger’s Disease, a rare condition that affects circulation. He was living in Las Vegas at the time, working as an electrical engineer.
“It was seven years worth of surgeries,” he said. “[Buerger’s Disease] is real rare. It only happens to men between the ages of 20 and 30, and it’s strictly caused by smoking. There’s no cure for it.”
During a long period of rehabilitation and recovery Goetzinger starting become involved with adaptive sports, which allowed him to stay active.
“I was getting real down and depressed,” he said. “I had a son that I couldn’t play soccer with, so I reached out to the city of Las Vegas and they had a program where they let me borrow a handcycle and they had little clinics around the city. They talked me into playing wheelchair basketball.”
While playing for the Las Vegas Silver Bandits, a now-defunct International Basketball League team, he helped the team improve from 42nd place to capturing a national championship during an impressive two-year turnaround.
He also became involved with Achilles International, an organization that promotes disabled athletes, during that time.
“They kind of took me under their wing for a couple years and I started doing marathons and handcycling,” he said. “I did four or five marathons with them, all in Las Vegas, and I’d work with the kids in the community, doing handcycle camps where I’d ride with them for a couple miles and teach them how to use the bike, and about disability awareness.”
Goetzinger wound up back on the East Coast after meeting a Maryland native, Katie, who would become his wife. The couple decided to relocate to the Eastern Shore and start a family.
For about four years, he has been focusing on raising their young daughter, Paisley Rain, while Katie works for Ocean Pines Parks and Recreation. He also has a 17-year-old son from a previous marriage, Jacob, who lives in Oregon.
“Now she’s a little older, so I’m starting to get back out there with wheelchair sports,” Goetzinger said. “Last year we raised money for the handcycle I have now, which is a recreational version that was $3,000. We got help from Choptank Electric, West OC Fitness, the Ocean Pines Tennis Center, and then a bunch of friends and family.”
With that new handcycle, he competed in and won the Island to Island Half Marathon and 5K race in April.
Now, he plans to enter four more marathons this fall, starting with the Baltimore Running Festival on Oct. 15, followed by competitions in Dover and Washington, D.C., and ending with the New York City Marathon on Nov. 6.
In New York, more than 120 handcyclists are expected to compete in an event that is watched each year by more than one million spectators.
However, entry fees and travel expenses associated with those events are not cheap, and Goetzinger is trying to raise $1,800 through his GoFundMe page. As of press time, he was about halfway there.
“We just have a little bit more to come up with, since I’m a stay-at-home dad,” he said. “We’re going to do the events either way, but anything would help.”
Beyond simply competing for competition’s sake, Goetzinger said he’s hoping to raise awareness and potentially launch several local programs for local athletes with disabilities. Currently, there aren’t many of those types of offerings in the county.
“From what I’ve found, there’s a small group, Athletes Serving Athletes, out of Salisbury, but there’s no team sports,” he said. “We’re going to try and do and Eastern Shore adaptive program – whether it helps one or 10 people – and it will be for all ages.”
Wheelchair tennis, soccer, basketball and lacrosse, as well as racing, are possibilities, he said.
Goetzinger is hoping to win two of the four races outright – in Baltimore and Dover – and he has his sights set on making the 2020 U.S. Paralympic Cycling team, which will compete on the international stage in Tokyo.
“I think I can make it to that level,” he said. “We’re trying to raise some awareness for this to get me off the ground and get people to kind of know me around here, and maybe they’ll start asking questions.
“I stop every single person I see with a prosthetic or in a wheel chair an ask them, ‘Do you play any sports? Do you ride bikes?’ And their answer is always no, they can’t afford it,” he continued. “That’s going to be one of our biggest things – to try to get them local and federal grants so they can participate.”
For now, he said his biggest fans are his wife and two children, who often accompany him during the competitions – both as spectators and as participants.
“They love it,” he said. “It’s hard to keep my daughter off the bike before and after the races, but we do the family rides too. And my son comes every holiday and the whole summer. We just did the Freedom 5K in Ocean Pines together, and he runs cross country track at his high school and is hoping to go to Oregon State.”
For more information visit www.gofundme.com/27a5pqvk, or search “2016 Adaptive athlete support” at www.gofundme.com.