Carly Waugh: homepage

Carly Waugh was a wildland firefighter for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Five years ago while working on a fire in the mountains of Oregon, Carly took a devastating fall leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Carly is a native of Maryville, TN who graduated from MHS in 1994. She played soccer, basketball and ran track. Carly went on to the University of Tennessee where she played soccer and majored in Forestry. After her injury, Carly attended the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center to regain her mobility and independence.

Through the help of the Physical and Recreational Therapists, and the Patricia Neal Innovative Recreation Cooperative, (IRC) Carly was introduced to adaptive sports. Sports as well as the outdoors have always been a mainstay for her; therefore it was a blessing to know this part of her life could continue with some normalcy and independence.

Despite all she went through, Carly has always maintained a positive attitude and has persevered through many hardships. She always looks at life as a gift from God. “Every day that we have is a blessing, so we better make the most of it.” Carly has accomplished a lot since her injury: Besides getting back into sports, she has learned to walk with leg braces. She even surprised her husband by walking down the aisle for her wedding. In 2005, Carly gave birth to Sam. Carly also finished a Master’s Degree in Business from Lincoln Memorial University.

After a life changing, catastrophic injury such as the one Carly experienced, getting involved in adaptive sports was not simple. Unfortunately the cost of adaptive equipment is very high and it takes a lot to purchase even one piece of equipment. Nevertheless, she is doing well in the United States Handcycle Federation racing series on borrowed equipment and hopes to eventually win at the Paralympics!
If you would like to help Carly reach her handcycling goal, you can use the secure PayPal button below, or you can email her for her home address. Thank you!