Help Jeff Compete in the 2025 Paraclimbing Season

My name is Jeff Mellethin and I rock climb for the U.S. Paraclimbing Team. I am also a disabled combat veteran with 20 1/2 years of service in the U.S. military. I joined the Air Force in 1987, serving as a critical care nurse in various locations, including during Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Hurricane Katrina. I sustained a significant back injury on a MEDEVAC mission (Medical Evacuation) during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, which damaged the nerves in my left leg and caused debilitating chronic pain. I managed my injury as best I could until retiring from the Air Force in 2008, and then I went to work as a civilian nurse practitioner. In 2014, however, I had a stroke on my left side, which made my already-weak left side even worse, and my world turned completely upside down - again.

Suddenly, I was unable to continue working not just as a nurse practitioner, but in any career field, medical or not. My personal life and activities were also severely affected. I felt like everything had been ripped away from me, and I drifted in some dark waters during that time, feeling like I had no purpose or direction in life.

When I found the sport of handcycling in 2014, purpose and direction started to return to my life, but I still struggled without a mental challenge or task that matched the physical one that handcycling gave me. I still had some additional physical challenges and obstacles to overcome, and I underwent multiple surgeries on my back and heart, which allowed me to begin riding my bicycle again. All this was going on at the same time that I was discovering handcycling and other new passions that brought purpose back into my life.

Then, in 2023 I discovered the sport of paraclimbing and was in love from the start. I went all in! Paraclimbing was exactly what I had been searching for, without even knowing it. For me, it is the perfect combination of a physical challenge in getting up the different routes on the wall, as well as a mental challenge in figuring out the best routes, holds, and moves to make it to the top successfully and as efficiently as possible. I could compare it to a vertical chess game.

I trained hard, and reached the next level of the sport this year in 2024, qualifying and competing in the Paraclimbing National Competition and making it all the way to the finals. My ranking in the finals there further qualified me to attend and compete at the IFSC (International Federation of Sport Climbing World Cup Series). I finished the 2024 competition season in 8th place. Which brings me to now. I am fundraising and actively searching for sponsors to help me reach my 2025 climbing season goal of at least $15,000. This amount will empower me to be able to train, travel, and compete at the highest levels of my sport. My long-term goal is to qualify and compete at the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, California, as paraclimbing was recently added in July 2024 as a new sport for the games. Thank you for your time and consideration, and for letting me share my story.

Your contributions will help me attend the world cup competitions and continue to experience the freedom that paraclimbing gives me.