Ohio police officer headed to 2024 Paralympics following injury in line of duty
Dayton, Ohio police officer Byron Branch is headed to Paris to compete in the 2024 Paralympic Games in wheelchair fencing.
Branch was severely injured in 2016 when responding to an accident that resulted in the loss of his leg.
"I was responding to an accident on the highway," Branch told "Fox & Friends." "There was a semi on the side of the road that just got in an accident. I went to go check on the driver, make sure everything was okay with them before I headed on. He came out of his vehicle. I told him, 'for your safety, let's talk on the other side of my vehicle.' Next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital."
Branch went on to win gold in the Pan American Games in Canada two years after the accident and again in 2022 and 2024, drawing from his 16 years of fencing experience.
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"I just tried to apply what I knew from the fencing game to the wheelchair game. There was a little bit of a learning curve but nothing too extreme."
"I think what's most important once you go through a traumatic event, is to try and get yourself back on the level to where you were prior to the event," Branch said.
Branch, who is married with two daughters, said he is excited to go to the Olympics with his family there to support him.
"It will be the first time for them seeing me compete out of the country at that level."
A GoFundMe was created to help cover Branch's expenditures at the games, as he does not have a sponsor. The page has raised more than $44,000.
"I would like to personally say thank you to everybody who has helped thus far. It's been super helpful, very supportive," Branch told the Fox News audience.
"I'm most excited just to be in the atmosphere of all the other athletes there that are going to be representing the country, and then all the athletes from all over the world being in that kind of atmosphere. It's incredible."
Branch was named Dayton's Police Officer of the Year in 2018, according to the Dayton Daily News.