If a place exists below rock bottom, Chele was there. The former first responder had been dealing for years with chronic leg pain stemming from an injury that happened on duty. Doctors had recently broken the news that they needed to amputate her leg below the knee. Since the accident, Chele had fallen into deep depression. The physical pounds started piling on while the weight of the world bared down on her. Without seeing an end to the darkness, Chele tried taking her own life in August 2015.
Hearing about her suicide attempt, a Marine named Nico Marcolongo reached out to Chele. Nico is the Senior Manager of the Operation Rebound program at the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). There’s no one more passionate about empowering injured first responders and veterans than Nico. His pitch to Chele that day was simple – hop on a plane and come out to southern California to see what we’re all about. “If it isn’t for you,” he told her, “we’ll fly you back to New York and you won’t hear from us again.”
Chele’s life was about to change…
