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PROVO -- Former BYU football player Chad Lewis loves a challenge. He climbed from a walk-on for the Cougars in Provo to an All-Pro player in the NFL.
Lewis made a much steeper climb recently, one he will never forget.
"It was an epic adventure," he said -- an adventure made even more special thanks to the company he climbed with: Four wounded warriors from the military -- two who each lost a leg, one who suffered brain trauma and a woman who lost an eye. Their team name: "Hard Target."
Their mission was to climb the highest free-standing mountain the world: Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.
"Our slogan was 19K: 19,000 for the KIA, killed in action, for those in Iraq and Afghanistan," Lewis explained. "We felt we had a mission."
"There is no yellow brick road to the top of Kilimanjaro," he continued. "It's 19,000 feet, and you have to walk every bit of it."
Also along for the trek was former NFL coach Jeff Fisher and former star for the New England Patriots Tedy Bruschi.
No amount of football training prepared them for the grueling hike -- especially on summit day.
"The lack of oxygen at the top was no joke," Lewis said. "In one 24-hour period we hiked for 19 hours. We hiked up 3,000 feet, we went down 3,000 feet, then went down another 3,000 feet."
But on day five, the group of 11 would have to summit without two of their wounded warriors. Michael Wilson, who had suffered a traumatic brain injury, got sick and was taken back to camp. The day before the summit, Ben Lunak -- who lost a leg in battle -- could no longer walk. He was devastated.
Their plea to us was, 'Don't forget us. Don't forget what we're doing, don't forget we're fighting for your freedom.'
–Chad Lewis
"When he left, Teddy Bruschi went and talked to him and said, ‘We're going to take your reserve leg to the top of that mountain, and a piece of you is going to go to the top,'" Lewis said. "So he put it in his backpack and we hiked that thing up the mountain."
But near the top, Brusci became exhausted. Like any good football player, he handed it off to his teammate.
"I put it in my backpack and said, ‘Let's go, bro,'" Lewis said.
So now down to nine, the team slowly made it to the top. It was a victory not only for Lewis; he says it was also a tribute to our nations' military.
"We value your lives, we value you losing your leg for our freedom. We're grateful for that," he said. "To hear them say the worst casualty of war is to be forgotten... Their plea to us was, 'Don't forget us. Don't forget what we're doing, don't forget we're fighting for your freedom.'"
Lewis issued a challenge to everyone: Thank at least one veteran this Memorial Day weekend.
The team's climb was to bring awareness to the Wounded Warriors Project.
Email: kaiken@ksl.com
