TOM DAVIS … Tom Davis is on his hand cycling bike while he represents Team USA.
By: Jacob Kessler
Tom Davis was born in Montpelier to Raymond and Wilma Davis on April 22nd, 1977, where he lived for a short time before moving to the small Village of Risingsun located Southeast of Bowling Green, Ohio.
His earliest childhood memories come from his time in Risingsun before moving to Michigan where he attended elementary school. Since then Tom and his family moved to Fremont, Indiana where they currently live.
Tom is married to his wife Jamie and are parents to four children Isaiah, Elliana, Lyllian, and Brenan. The pair were engaged in February 2004 and married in July of that year after returning from a tour in Iraq.
Later in 2006 tragedy struck while Tom was stationed in Ramadi. The Humvee that Tom was riding in hit an improvised explosive device or IED. The vehicle was flipped into the air and landed on its top where Tom was trapped.
He was rescued by an Army Medic named Jason Dickerson and transported to receive medical attention.
Tom suffered multiple injuries including a concussion, traumatic brain injury, two broken forearms, right broken knee, broken nose and facial bones, broken toe on his right foot and massive blood loss.
Numerous surgeries followed to fix his injuries which included a spinal fusion and the amputation to his left leg above the knee.
During physical therapy Tom started hand cycling. “I loved the feeling of getting back on a bike and going fast. Afterwards I got my first bike and never went back,” said Tom.
Tom kept working on cycling and started competing in many races before taking on the Boston Marathon where he has won the handcycling title each year from 2015 to 2019.
Tom also went to compete in the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he placed in 4th for the road race and 6th for the road time trial.
Tom has since finished first in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Time Trials and will be traveling with Team USA to compete as a Paralympian Hand Cyclist in the MH4 category.
The Paralympic games will be taking place on August 24th through September 5th.
Tom Davis is an American Hero that has competed in many more marathons and competitions since 2011 when he started.
He is also invited to speak from time to time regarding his experiences and likes to coach youth sports in his free time. He is strengthened through Christ who has helped him from the beginning.
Tom has a website where you can learn more about him which is tomdavisparacycling.com.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com