TOLEDO, Ohio — In 1994, the course of Shane Jernigan's life changed forever.
As an army ranger, he was constantly testing the limits of life and a parachute training mission that went wrong left him falling more than 125 feet out of the sky in full combat gear. His back was broken in six places with multiple joint fractures along with other severe injuries.
"I shouldn't have even lived," Jernigan said.
Years later, following multiple surgeries including an amputation, he's fighting for other veterans to have access to adaptive equipment to stay active and inspired, an opportunity he felt he didn't have.
"If the VA or the military had just given me a handcycle, a race wheelchair, a couple other pieces of adaptive equipment, it would have saved me from the catastrophic fall that I had because I have so many injuries," Jernigan said.
He hopes to shift mindsets, especially in other veterans who feel limited by physical challenges.
"I don't want this to happen to other rangers, especially our young guys who are coming out who still have this mentality going on when we shouldn't," Jernigan said.
So, he entered the Men's Health and Fitness Cover Contest to show that no matter how you look, you still deserve recognition. It's a sentiment his wife, Erika, also shares.
"It's inspiring, I mean, it's just another level. He always has a smile on his face," she said. "I've never seen him say no to anything, and everything he usually says yes to, he usually kills it."
Jernigan wants to encourage disabled veterans to live their lives to the fullest.
"In the end, it's about going on with what your mission in life is. What do you want to do? I don't want to sit on my couch in my house. I don't want to lay in my bed, I don't want to live in a wheelchair, I want to go out," he said.
Jernigan currently works as an instructor with Adaptive Sports Connection helping disabled veterans and civilians stay active.
He proudly told WTOL 11 that he is the first "one-legged" ambassador for Run Toledo and Triathalon Toledo and that he spends his winters teaching skiing and snowboarding to other disabled veterans.
Despite Jernigan's recovery over the last 20 years, he said he still has at least four surgeries ahead.
"I told my doctor I wanted to go at least 10 years without another surgery, and he laughed at me. He told me, 'Let's try for two,'" Jernigan said.
But despite the road ahead, he doesn't plan on taking life any slower.