Wounded Warrior Returns Home From Competition

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Friends and family gathered at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport to welcome home a Wounded Warrior competitor.

Captain Hunter Barnhill spent his past week competing in the Department of Defense Wounded Warrior Games in Colorado.

Hard work, dedication, and perseverance is what it took for Barnhill to compete in the games.

Barnhill’s life changed in 2017 on Easter.

He was in his backyard when he lost control of his body and started shaking.

“Just out of the blue never had a seizure before. The next day I went in for a brain scan and then they said you have a brain tumor. Once they set a piece of that tumor away it was found that I had Oligodendrogliomas stage 2 which is a very slow growing brain tumor,” said Barnhill.

Doug Gosney said the road to recovery was a tough one for Barnhill.

He had to relearn how to do many things most people take for granted.

“He had to learn how to walk and talk, eat and tie his shoes, and all that stuff and so he’s done a phenomenal job. Amazing amount of progress in a short amount of time,” said Gosney.

Barnhill hasn’t let his cancer stop him and has worked hard to get to where he is now.

“He’s been very dedicated not only to prepare for the games but just a part of his own recovery and resiliency,” said Gosney.

“A lot of training,” said Barnhill. “A lot of physical training and a lot of mental training. And then social preparation and spiritual preparation basically came from my friends and my family. That was what I think really did it and where these medals came from is the support that I had from my friends and family.”

He left for the games with hopes of inspiring others.

“This past week was incredible, said Barnhill. I went there this week with the intention of inspiring people and showing people not to give up, but instead, I was inspired. I got to drive back that flame, that spark inside of me, to continue serving my country was reignited. I saw a lot of people in worse situations that I did, do some incredible things.”

Barnhill walked away from the Warrior games with two bronze and a silver medal.