Skier had to fight uphill battles to reach Games
Freestyle skier Torin Yater-Wallace has a simple picture in his mind: His family all together in South Korea for the Winter Olympics and watching him compete in the halfpipe.
His journey there has been much more complicated.
The family has been through so much over the years — from his father serving time for a whitecollar crime to his mother dealing with colon cancer, and the scariest twist of all: Yater- Wallace spent 10 days in a medically induced paralysis state in November 2015 while fighting a lifethreatening infection.
“A lot of it sucked and a lot of it was some of the worst things to ever deal with and I couldn’t help but think, ‘Why again? Why me? Why another crappy thing?’ ” said the 22- year- old YaterWallace, who leads the Olympic qualifying process in skier halfpipe.
“But I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I’m just happy to have all my family in good health and back home.”
His mom and dad were both avid skiers. He was on skis in the backyard as a toddler and in lessons by 2. Somewhere around third grade, his life changed.
Ronald Wallace ran a business that specialized in collectable wines. Prosecutors said he promised wine futures to clients but rarely delivered. He was sentenced to five years of probation, two years of home confinement and ordered to pay millions in restitution in February 2007. He ended up serving time in federal prison for probation violations and was released in December 2015.
“On and off throughout those years, he would be home and then gone,” Yater- Wallace said.
To make ends meet, Yater-Wallace, his mother and his sister lived on food stamps for a bit and moved 10 times in a two-year span, including into the attic above a friend’s garage. His mom worked multiple jobs so he could ski.
But after landing a sponsorship deal from a ski company, Yater-Wallace was invited to the 2011 Winter X Games, where as a 15- year- old he took second.
“From there, our lives were completely turned around,” Yater-Wallace said. “Everything changed overnight, from barely affording rent to chasing this crazy dream of being a pro skier.”
He was considered a medal favorite in halfpipe skiing at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, but shortly before the Games he broke his ribs in a crash. He healed in time to make the team but didn’t stand much of a chance. He finished 26th.
It still felt like a goldmedal moment because his mother, Stace, was there. Leading up to the Olympics, she went through multiple surgeries for colon cancer.
His own recovery was remarkable, too.
In November 2015, YaterWallace thought he had a cold he couldn’t kick. Doctors eventually discovered he had a bacterial strain that caused an abscess within his liver and attacked his gall bladder. It was forcing his organs to shut down and his lungs to fill with fluid.
The doctors put him into a medically induced state of paralysis. He lost about 30 pounds in that time and “every single possible muscle fiber,” he said.
In early January 2016, Yater-Wallace was cleared to ski again.
Now fully healthy again, Yater- Wallace figures to be a medal contender in South Korea. His mom, dad and sister will be there.
“Sometimes, you can’t help but feel that something around you or something in this world doesn’t want you to succeed,” Yater- Wallace said. “But dealing with hard times, it motivates you to push through.”