Games help Dupuis battle illness, injury
TORONTO Natacha Dupuis’s return to sports started with a bike.
The former master corporal served in several Canadian Forces regiments, including the Royal Canadian Dragoons, for more than 16 years. She did a tour in Bosnia and two in Afghanistan — the last of which saw her witness the deaths of two comrades.
Her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder came after her return home. And her symptoms didn’t just include psychological difficulties — she was in physical pain, too. Dupuis said she’d always been athletic, but found herself gaining weight.
So Soldier On, a Canadian Forces program to help rehabilitate injured veterans, gave her a mountain bike — a gift the Gatineau, Que., resident said started her road to recovery.
Three years after she left the military, Dupuis is one of Team Canada’s co-captains at the Invictus Games, which began in Toronto this weekend.
The Games are an international sports competition for military veterans with physical or mental injuries. At least 550 athletes from 17 countries are competing in 12 sports in the Games this year, making it the largest in the history of the event. Ninety of those athletes are Canadian.
Dupuis was part of Team Canada at the games in Orlando last year. She won gold in both the 100-metre and 200-metre dash, and bronze in powerlifting. Dupuis said she also lost about 30 pounds over the course of training.
“Last year’s Games was the extra push that I needed to regain control over my illness and my injury,” she said.
This week, she’ll be back for both track and field and, for the first time in her Invictus career, rowing.
For many of the participating athletes, the Invictus Games go beyond medals. They say it’s also about the camaraderie that comes with serving in the military. Dupuis is no exception. “Having a medal is nice,” she said. “But … the Invictus Games is much more than that.”