Ohio.Com - Wounded Warrior Gets Back on Road with Bike 11/2/10 2:32 PM

Ohio.com - Wounded warrior gets back on road with bike 11/2/10 2:32 PM

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Events Calendar November 2010 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 Homepage > Local News > 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Wounded warrior gets back on road 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 with bike 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 Injured in bombing in Iraq, Akron Marine Oy Rassavong enjoys 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 being able to exercise EVENT SEARCH: By Jim Carney Go Beacon Journal staff writer ==> Submit an Event Published on Tuesday, Nov 02, 2010

In This Section Oy Rassavong was ready for a workout. Wounded warrior gets back on road with bike Wearing a Wounded Carousel property is on auction block Warrior and Soldier Ride T- shirt and other gear on a UA OKs raises for instructors frigid day in late October, Rassavong was excited to A milestone for madness in athletics take his new recumbent three-wheeler out for a No stamp of approval for missent mailed vote spin. Final rounds before Election Day ''Oh, God, it is cold,'' said Oy Rassavong rides his new adaptive bike on the trail the ever-smiling Rassavong Get, share updates from at the Wilbeth Road Towpath. Riding is part of as he and his brother, Ouy area polling locations Rassavong's recovery from a traumatic brain injury and other wounds he suffered in Iraq over five years Rassavong, took a first ride ago. (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal) on the Ohio & Erie Canal Most Read Stories View more photos >> Towpath Trail at Wilbeth 24 hrs 7 days Road.

Two teens killed, 1 hurt in This wasn't your typical trike and Oy Rassavong, 27, wasn't just any bike rider. Boston Township car crash Teen finds 3 family members Five years ago, he was nearly killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq. slain at Ohio home, thinks it's Halloween joke at first He suffered a traumatic brain injury, with paralysis in his right arm and partial Florida man arrested on drug paralysis in his right leg. He also has trouble remembering things since the charges at Akron-Canton Airport bombing.

Deputies nab burglary The trike is designed to allow him to steer with his left arm and pedal primarily suspect in Green with his left leg. Funerals scheduled for victims of Boston Twp. car Most Commented Stories crash 24 hrs 7 days Food deliveryman beaten, Fleeing Laos robbed in Akron McDonald's owner apologizes for urging Man mugged outside Akron Rassavong's his family fled Laos in the mid-1980s, when he was just a baby. workers to vote Republican 76 convenience store The family escaped in a midnight ride across the Mekong River to a refugee Letters to the editor - Nov. 2 61 Brunner orders investigation camp in Thailand and eventually arrived in Akron in 1986. over GOP endorsements by Brunner orders investigation over GOP McDonald's franchise owner His father was a Laotian soldier who had worked with the United States during endorsements by McDonald's franchise owner 52 Baby killed after interrupting the Vietnam War. He mom's Facebook time feared his association with the Americans could harm his family. Letters to the editor - Nov. 1 41 Spray-paint vandals target NAACP still fighting for rights, D.C. official Cuyahoga Falls car lot After graduating from Akron's Garfield High School in 2002, Oy Rassavong says at Akron event 36 Complete List >> joined the Marine Corps. He served in Somalia before heading to Iraq in 2005. Ohio sheriff on trial, case linked to inmate death 30 http://www.ohio.com/news/106501333.html Page 1 of 3 Ohio.com - Wounded warrior gets back on road with bike 11/2/10 2:32 PM

30 On June 7, 2005, while he was riding in the passenger seat of a Humvee, a Former president George W. Bush to speak Blogs: roadside bomb went off, sending shrapnel into his head and shoulder. in Ohio 25 Before October, the last time Rassavong had ridden on a trike was in June, Ganley accusing Sutton of lying 24 Warmus Murder Trial: Warmus guilty; defense claim when he took part in a ride from Madison, Wis., to Chicago. Two teens killed, 1 hurt in Boston Township car crash 20 rejected by jury The 140-mile, four-day journey was part of the the Wounded Warrior Project and Food deliveryman beaten, robbed in Akron 20 Project Mobility, a nonprofit group that fitted participants with specially designed Vietnam Journey: Complete List >> Welcome Home Reception- bikes. Sunday October 31st -all are welcome Rassavong was fitted for a bike by Hal Honeyman, founder of Project Mobility. He also runs a company called Creative Mobility that makes adaptive bikes and Ohio Politics/Elections: trikes and runs a bike shop in St. Charles, Ill., called the Bike Rack. Get, share updates from area polling locations After the Soldier Ride, Joseph Gross, who is the Ohio and Michigan coordinator for the Wounded Warrior Project based in Cuyahoga Falls, worked to obtain Cleveland Browns: funding for a trike for Rassavong. Links to Browns coverage: Nov. 2, 2010 A $3,500 donation from Team Semper Fi, a part of the nonprofit Injured Marine Marla Ridenour on Sports: Semper Fi Fund, paid for the trike made by Inspired Cycle Engineering of Browns search for QB of England. It was modified specifically for Rassavong by Creative Mobility. future ''It's a real transforming experience,'' Honeyman said of getting wounded Cleveland Cavaliers: veterans on bicycles and trikes after they have been hospitalized and unable to Pregame: Hawks at Cavs get out for physical exercise.

Varsity Letters: What he has witnessed, said Honeyman, who has a son with cerebral palsy, ''is High School Playoff Pairings so many people — kids and adults and wounded veterans or people with any type of disability — is that so many are trapped within their injury, and the bike is The330: one way we can help them get a little bit of freedom.'' Mike Hurleyʼs Blessed Label Clothing Riding a bike or trike, he said, is ''kind of a steppingstone,'' and once people with Tribe Matters: a disability have mastered it, they begin to see the possibilities of life and they Baseball Americaʼs Tribe draft ''look at the world differently.'' card Honeyman said Rassavong was ''smiling and laughing'' during the entire Soldier First Bell - On Education: Ride in June. Akron ranked 20th in nation for charter school enrollment Rassavong may have had a grin, but he acknowledges now that the ''first mile hurt bad.'' The Heldenfiles: MTM Reunites With Betty But he kept going. White for "Hot in Cleveland" He is now awaiting arrival of additional gear so he can use the trike to exercise Pets: inside his Akron home during the winter. Lost Lab Mix in Green, OH

Akron Zips: When spring arrives, Rassavong said, he and his brother plan on riding as often Thoughts on this week's as possible. trouncing ''Every day the weather permits, I'll be out there,'' he said. Kent State Sports: Kent State Defeats Ball State Rassavong has taken part in several Wounded Warrior events, including a 33-14 On Joshua Cribbs Day hunting trip this fall, a fishing trip to Idaho and jumping out of planes with other wounded veterans. Akron Docs in Haiti: Orphans in Fondwa Gross said his hope is the trike will make a difference for Rassavong. ''We hope it changes his life,'' Gross said. ''It is great that he can do something.'' Buckeye Blogging: Ohio State cobbles together a Rassavong, who receives full disability benefits from the Department of Veterans secondary Affairs, will never be able to drive a car because of seizures caused by his brain All Da King's Men: injury. Reason.TV At the Stewart Rally Being disabled, he said, has been eye opening. He is surprised at the number of times he has been pushed by others as he struggles to walk with his cane. Blog of Mass Destruction: What To Listen For Tonight ''Brother, people are in a rush,'' he said.

Akron Law Café: The scars of the bomb that maimed him will be forever, but Rassavong, who Stewart / Colbert "Rally to became a U.S. citizen in 2009, said he works to have a good attitude. Restore Sanity / March to Keep Fear Alive" ''I am loving life,'' he said. Car Chase: For information about Project Mobility, visit http://www.projectmobility.org. For Spectacular Duesenberg information about adaptive bike and trike equipment, visit Named Best in Show at http://www.creativemobility.net. Glenmoor

Let's Talk Real Estate: For more about the Wounded Warrior Project, visit Its in the Water http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org. http://www.ohio.com/news/106501333.html Page 2 of 3 Ohio.com - Wounded warrior gets back on road with bike 11/2/10 2:32 PM

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See Jane Style: Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or [email protected]. The Beautiful Men

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