Invictus Games athlete ready to battle for his country
Dean Irvine left his two tours of duty with the Canadian Armed Forces physically unscathed, but a fluke accident on a baseball diamond in Manitoba is something he still suffers from today.
Diagnosed with a brain injury in 2017, 14 years after taking a line drive to the head that also required him to have reconstructive surgery on his face, the Welland resident and retired military sergeant is one of 40 athletes who will represent Canada at the Invictus Games in Australia next week.
This week he was recognized by Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey for his efforts in a cleanup along the Highway of Heroes, a 170-kilometre stretch of Highway 401 running from CFB Trenton and Toronto that pays tribute to Canadian men and women who have lost their lives in war.
Irvine said paying respect to the individuals he has known during his career with the Forces who have died is what made him get involved with the initiative.
“I wanted to go to the highway to remember them,” he said at Badawey’s Welland office.
His injury caused him to forget many aspects of watching his children grow up. Now on the mend, he’s getting back into sports, and even proposed again to his wife Gailynne.
He served in Bosnia in 2000 and was also stationed in the Ukraine in 2003 for peace training, a time before his accident when everything was going so well.
“It was one of the best years I’d had in the military — but sometimes that’s the way it goes,” he said.
Competing in wheelchair rugby, rowing and powerlifting, he will adorn some of his equipment with tributes to fallen soldiers, including his best friend Mark Salesse, who died in 2015.
“I might as well bring them with me to the Invictus Games,” he said.
Irvine does most of his training at the Fort Erie YMCA and has also received support from multiple branches in Niagara of the Royal Canadian Legion.
He father to son Matthew, 16, and daughter Rebecca, 14. His wife said it’s like they have a “new dad,” watching him prepare for the Games, and travelling to Australia with them as well.
“The most exciting part will be for our kids to see him active again,” she said, noting how young they were at the time of his injury.
Badawey thanked Irvine for his dedication to the Highway of Heroes cleanup.
“It’s the least we can do — expressing our appreciation for making that difference,” he said.
Colin Fitzgerald, a retired master corporal who served with Irvine in Bosnia, said through the ups and downs his friend has been through, it’s astonishing what he continues to accomplish.
“It’s absolutely amazing how far he’s come,” he said.