Community Corner
Santee Resident Crowned Ms. Wheelchair California 2011
Corey Petersen will compete in the Ms. Wheelchair America 2011 competition in August.
As an athlete, veteran, wife, daughter, sister and friend, Corey Petersen holds many titles. Now, she has one more to add to her list: Ms. Wheelchair California 2011.
The Santee resident received her at the 2011 Ms. Wheelchair California Pageant last Saturday, which was held at the Abilities Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
“I’m still kind of getting used to it,” said Petersen, who has resided in Santee since last May. “It’s really surreal. Exciting, but surreal.”
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As Ms. Wheelchair California 2011, Petersen will help promote awareness, educate and inform the public about disability issues, as well as the achievements of people with disabilities. She will also compete in the upcoming Ms. Wheelchair America 2011 competition, which will take place in August.
“I really lucked out with the ladies,” Petersen said. “This isn’t going to be just me out there in the world. We’re all hoping to work together as a team, rather than just one person trying to do it.”
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There were six other contestants, including Petersen, but one dropped out before the , said Ruthee Goldkorn, the executive director of Ms. Wheelchair California. Goldkorn said the diverse group “represented all segments of the society in California.”
“Corey is absolutely outstanding,” Goldkorn said. “She’s the whole package; she really is. She has a complete grasp of what it is that we do and fulfilling our mission statement. She’s fun, she’s funny, she’s adventurous and she’s not afraid.”
Each of the contestants had to submit an application, resume and essay, as well as conduct one-on-one interviews with the judges. In addition, contestants had to give an onstage speech about themselves, their accomplishments and their platform.
“You have a platform for women with disabilities to get their message out, to get their platform out, everything they’re passionate about,” said Goldkorn, who was crowned Ms. Wheelchair California in 2001 and became the executive director the year after.
Petersen’s platform is rehabilitation through sports, which helped her after she was injured from a snowmobiling accident in February 2007.
“Everyone’s got the stigma of inactivity,” Petersen said. “You think you’re going to be sedentary. You think you’re never going to do those sports, activities and things you loved ever again. It’s so not that way. I’ve done more sports now than I ever did when I was able-bodied.”
During a vacation weekend away from her job as an active duty Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, Petersen, her husband and two friends went snowmobiling in Wisconsin Dells. Petersen was thrown from her snowmobile onto the trail. Her friend, another Marine on the snowmobile behind her, did not see her in time to stop.
Petersen suffered two collapsed lungs, shattered T5 vertebrae, 99 percent severed spinal cord, six broken ribs, broken scapula and other minor injuries. She required two major back surgeries, five chest tubes, respiratory support for a month and a tracheotomy, all leaving her a T5 complete spinal cord injury, which left her permanently paralyzed from the chest down.
Petersen said her husband, an active duty Marine she had married four months prior to the accident, and her sister, helped her rehabilitate. They stayed overnight with her in the hospital for months, she said.
“I owe them so much,” she said. “They were amazingly positive and supportive through all of this… I’m lucky.”
Sports also helped her gain her strength back. Within months of her accident, Petersen participated in the Marine Corps Marathon by handcycling and has done so ever since.
Petersen received gold medals at the 2010 National Veterans Wheelchair Games in bowling, javelin and shot put, as well as a silver medal in handcycling. She enjoys handcycling, surfing, rock climbing and skiing—a sport she never tried before her accident. She is competing in the upcoming San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, too.
“I love them all—anything I can get my hands on,” she said. “There are so many great sports out there, especially all types of adaptive sports.
“I really want to show that this is a positive way to do it,” she said. “We learn so much more about our bodies doing sports—learning what are strengths are, how to balance the right way and meet other disabled people. You learn so much more than you would through a physical therapist, occupational therapist or anybody than you would through another person who is going through the same thing as you.”
In addition to her family, friends and sports, Petersen received support from the Semper Fi Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides financial support for injured and critically ill members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Now, she works as the Community Outreach Manager of the organization.
Because she was also inspired by that visited her while she was in the hospital, Petersen trained her dogs Teddy and Tinkers to be therapy dogs. They visit patients at Veterans Affairs Hospitals and senior centers. She also fosters dogs from Second Chance Dog Rescue, a nonprofit organization that rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes dogs.
Petersen said she is looking forward to sharing her story and helping others as Ms. Wheelchair California 2011.
“My fellow brothers and sisters in the armed forces, are going to be pushed into the disabled community and they’re going to be relying on all of us who have been disabled for a period of time to really stand up and show them that life will go on, it does get better and it’s not such a scary thing,” she said.
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