Gabriel George

Gabriel “Gabe” George (born June 27, 1986) is a medically retired U.S. Navy Corpsman and an American Paralympic athlete. 
=== Early Life ===
George was born in Baytown, Texas, one of four children, to a single mother.. Describing himself as entrepreneurial, George spent his youth working on his pastor’s farm, gaining trade experience with his grandfather, and even working in a mortuary with his great uncle. After graduating high school, he enlisted with the United States Navy. 
=== Military Career ===
George joined the Navy in July 2004 as a corpsman. His first deployment included bringing him to the Mediterranean, Israel, Haifa, Greece, Croatia, Europe, and Turkey; the second was to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was medically retired in 2009 as a result of the injuries from his motorcycle accident
=== Injury ===
On April 1st, 2008, George was leaving Bible Study on his motorcycle when a car making a U-turn at a stop-light hit him. He awoke three weeks later in the hospital with the following injuries: C2-C7 spinal cord injury, six broken ribs, broken scapula, both lungs collapsed and severely bruised, a right brachial plexus injury, and more. The brachial plexus injury resulted in paralysis of his arm. 
Attempts to recover some mobility to the arm, including several surgeries, were unsuccessful. However it was not until years later and his introduction to adaptive sports through the VA resulted in further injuries to the paralzyed arm did doctors finally agree to amputate. 
=== Archery ===
In 2018, George was introduced to adaptive sports through the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic in San Diego, where a Paralympic coach demonstrated how he could fire a bow using string-- he went to buy a bow the next day. Soon George was looking to compete, participating in paralympic competitions while aiming to be included on Team USA. His dedication to the sport has led to participation in the 2019 DOD Warrior Games for Team Navy, candidacy for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020 (prior to its cancellation), and an invitation to the Invictus Games in 2022 for Team USA. 
=== Volunteerism ===
When not participating in sports, George involves himself with volunteering at non-profits like Team Rubicon. 
=== Advocacy ===
==== Medical Marijuana ====
Because of his motorcycle accident, George suffers from chronic pain due to nerve damage. His neurologist was the first to suggest medical marijuana as a potential treatment for the side effects of his pharmaceutical regimen . George has expressed that taking the drug improves his quality of life, combating the chronic pain while also not adding any side-effects 
=== Appearances ===
In 2019 George was a feature interviewee on the Making Good episode Veterans Oceans Adventures, aired by the BYU TV&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1631495372567000&usg=AOvVaw2zIdlazagb0C226C6taFt0|BYUtv channel. 
George was a contestant on the Go-Big Show#Match-Up 3: Gabe The One Armed Archer vs. Cassidy Rose|American Go Big Show, appearing for the first time on January 14, 2021 as a contestant on the episode “You Can’t Unsee This!” After earning the high score in his match-up, he moved on to be a semi-finalist and appeared a second time on February 25th’s episode “Go Big, Fly High.”
Category:1986 births
Category:American disabled sportspeople
Category:People from Baytown, Texas