Iowa native prepares for Paralympics in Paris

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Woodbine, Iowa native Jeromie Meyer is no novice to overcoming adversity. His life flipped upside down at just nine-years-old.

“I was struck by a drunk driver riding my bicycle. It led me to having a spinal cord injury which now is why I’m a full time wheelchair user,” said Meyer.

After hospitalization he relocated from Woodbine to Lincoln, starting the recovery process at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital. But his love for basketball never faded, and recreation therapist Kristin Luethke helped him get back on the court.

“Part of our job is to talk to them about adaptive sports and recreation opportunities that are out there and then try some activities while they’re in our inpatient program, so when they’re more accepting and willing to cope with their injury they can get involved in the resources they need,” said Luethke.

Both Luethke and Jeromie agree, his family was incredibly supportive of his wheelchair basketball journey, even driving 45 minutes to an hour once a week just so he could practice.

“It can go one of two ways. Usually your family can be very distant, say like ‘this was my fault and play the blame game’... or if can bring your family closer together. This has happened, what can we do to figure out what our new normal is going to be,” said Meyer.

From grade school through his high school years Meyer played for the Eastern Nebraska Wheelchair Athletic Association, now renamed Nebraska Adaptive Sports. He went on to play for UNO’s wheelchair basketball team, eventually transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

After a few tries, he made the men’s National Team as a shooting guard, winning Gold at the 2023 ParaPan American Games.

“I always tell people it’s not very linear, you’re going to have setbacks. You kinda have to take what people are going to say as a failure and reassess and see what we can learn from it. The very cliché, it’s not a failure if you learn something from it and in some sense it’s actually a pretty accurate mindset,” said Meyer.

Much of his time is spent on and off the court, working on conditioning.

“Most times you’re going to have a strength and conditioning workout one day and then you might have a cardio or some type of interval workout the next day. Usually it’s five to six times a week you’re working out,” said Meyer.

The obvious goal in Paris is to bring back a gold medal for Team USA.

“I’m just so proud of all the accomplishments he’s done and I know he’s going to do a lot more things in life,” said Luethke.

For kids who might also be impaired, his message is to have fun with what you do.

“I know it’s a little harder to get over that and you’re always having to advocate for yourself to tell people that ‘hey I can do this myself’,” said Meyer. “You cannot always die on that hill. Some days you just gotta smile, nod your head and say thank you and keep moving about your day and find something to be positive about.”

The first wheelchair basketball game is Aug. 29. Jeromie will take part in the opening ceremony the night before.

You can watch the Paralympic Games in Paris on the streaming platform Peacock.

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