Alabaman named DAV's 2010 Disabled Veteran of the Year

From The Press-Register in Alabama:

Fellow disabled veterans say Dave Riley (pictured) has no limitations.

He sets up tables for meetings and takes them down afterward, makes coffee at the local veterans center and helps out in other ways.

"He does a whole lot more with a whole lot less," said Deborah Walker, state director of Disabled American Veterans.

Riley, who lives in Semmes, is a quadruple amputee who uses prosthetics.

Disabled American Veterans recently recognized Riley as the nation's 2010 Disabled Veteran of the Year. He will receive the award during the DAV convention this summer in Atlanta.

"Dave is an amazing individual," said Chad Richmond, department adjutant for Alabama. "Within five minutes of meeting him, you forget that he has prosthetics."

A bacterial infection Riley contracted more than a decade ago caused doctors to amputate both arms below the elbow and both legs below the knee. At the time, he was a rescue swimmer for the U.S. Coast Guard.

It's the 50-year-old Riley's optimistic attitude that stands out, Richmond and others agree.

Riley was notified of his Disabled Veteran of the Year honor after he came home in April from the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, held annually in Snowmass Village, Colo.

"I thought they were joking when they called," he said.

Other disabled veterans in the state arranged fundraisers to send him out to Colorado.

At the well-known sports clinic, which draws 2,000 volunteers, disabled veterans from around the country learn to accomplish activities such as skiing and scuba diving -- things that they might not have tried because of their disability.

"It's for the veterans to learn the ability to do new things and learn independence," Riley said. "This gives them the feeling they had back before they were disabled. It's a feeling you think you might not get again after being disabled.

"I knew how to ski standing up, but I did not know how to do it sitting down," Riley said.

The son of a military family that moved every two years, Riley graduated from North Kingston High School in Rhode Island.

After his amputation surgeries and extensive hospital stays, he learned quickly how to walk again during rehabilitation.

Veterans groups, meanwhile, built him a handicap-accessible home in Semmes.

"It's been so long ago, it's like a way of life. I can't remember what it was like before," said Yvonne Riley, his wife.

"The doctors said that if he had not been a swimmer, he would probably not have survived," she said.

A committee at the DAV office in Washington, D.C., examines nominations from around the country to select the national award winner.

"It's amazing what he's accomplished despite his handicap," said Arthur "Art" Miller, recalling a pep talk that Riley gave in Ozark to other disabled veterans. "They were feeling kind of down until him walk in the room."

He added, "There were guys there with one leg, but not both."