What it Means to Make it to the Games
Ret. Air Force Reserves Lt. Col. Edna Higa did not see the car before it hit her.
One moment she was going through a green light paying attention to the road ahead, and the next there were people from a road-side church all around her and emergency crews coming to take her to the hospital. It was her first major car accident, and one of the most frightening moments of her life.
“I didn’t see the car before it hit me,” Higa said. “I just remember seeing blue. It turns out it was a blue car, but I couldn’t have told you anything about the kind of car; just blue. God must be looking out for me, because the person who hit me didn’t hit the door where I was, they hit the front of the car just inches forward from me.”
Being hit from the side, Higa could easily have been killed if the impact had happened a moment sooner. Instead, her car was destroyed, but she was not seriously hurt. The disorientation from the sudden impact left her confused, and she was having panicked thoughts as she went to the hospital.
“I heard them reading out my vital signs and my information just like I did when I was in the military,” Higa said. “I heard them say that I was a 69-year-old female, and what my blood pressure and heart rate was. I remember thinking that they were going to cut my clothes off and being upset about that, and I remember wanting to tell them that they had to make sure I was okay so that I could go to the Golden Aged Games.”
Higa had represented VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) in Paddlepaloosa not long before her car accident. That event was held at Flat Head Lake in Montana, and Higa was excited to go because she had been stationed in Lame Deer, Montana when she was younger. She enjoyed learning about Native American culture and found Montana fascinating. Going back for Paddlepaloosa was an enjoyable adventure, and part of her larger journey to develop and interest in sports.
Higa’s family were poor farmers, and her father struggled to immigrate to the United States from the Philippines. She joined the Air Force Reserves for the opportunities it could offer her, and she worked hard to go to college and improve her circumstances despite her humble beginnings. When her unit was activated, she was deployed to Kuwait. She was proud to serve, and she continued to advance in her career until retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after 22 years of service to her country.
“I was never interested in sports before,” Higa said. “However, it’s important to stay fit as you age. I heard about the Koa Challenge, and I participated. That gave me the confidence to sign up for the National Veterans Golden Aged Games. I almost didn’t get to go because of my accident, but I was very lucky, and I was able to make it despite my setback.”
Higa came home and kept going to practices so that she could compete in the 2nd annual Koa Challenge Veteran Games. She says that having these events to look forward to gives her a reason to go and train each week. It’s also helped her make friends with some of the other participants, and to experience some of the camaraderie that she felt with her fellow airmen when she was in the military.
“Paddling is how I got into it all, really,” Higa said. “I always liked paddling. Then I met Melissa from the VAPIHCS Rec Therapy program, and she talked me into getting involved in the Veteran games. I’m glad she did. It has been good for me.”
Higa has a personality that is very gregarious, and people in her company usually find themselves laughing along with her as she ‘talks story’ about her military service, her adjustment to other cultures after immigrating from the Philippines, and much more. Her lifetime of diverse experiences and adventures makes her easy for other Veterans to talk to regardless of what service they were in or what their background is. She is the first to cheer her teammates on in the Veteran games, and she is one of the Veterans who brings “heart” to the VAPIHCS team.
“I still have headaches since my car accident,” Higa says. “Maybe it will take some time to recover, you know? But I tell people, we must just keep going and trust that God has a plan for us. I’m glad I got connected with the Veteran games. Like God, they are a thing that motivates me, and I am grateful for that. We all need things to hold onto, don’t we? To help us when we don’t feel very strong or when we are afraid.”
If you are enrolled with VAPIHCS and you would like to participate in the recreation therapy program, talk with your primary care doctor about getting a referral. If you are not yet enrolled, call 1-800-214-1306 to talk to someone about enrolling with us. Participating in programs from the Department of Veterans Affairs can help Veterans to make friends, improve their mental and physical health, and be inspired to do more.