“I offered my life for your safety, and I’d do it again if it meant you were safe from what I saw.”
~Karolyn Smith
Karolyn Smith is a real live hero—an American soldier, inventor, author, speaker, expert in cyber security—living right in my back yard in San Diego County. How had I not heard of her before?
On this blog and in my book, Eternity through the Rearview Mirror, I write about those heroes who have come and gone—who have “slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.” But her story is profoundly inspiring and her service to country and community so motivating that I want you to know about her. You need to know about her, though she might not think so. She mainly volunteers behind the scenes. When she does speak, it’s for purposes of education. You’ll see what I mean.
Karolyn came to our meeting of the Rincon del Diablo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Little did we know that by the end of her presentation we would be emotionally spent, tears of overwhelming gratitude shed at the privilege of getting to know a little about her—of her accomplishments and of her sacrifice, compassion, honor, and integrity. Her story transcends understanding and defies explanation.
Her background as a fourteen-year velodrome cyclist well prepared her for military service in the war-torn streets of Bagdad. I can’t imagine the level of endurance, strength, neuromuscular coordination and strategic thinking necessary to successfully race eight laps around a velodrome at fifty miles an hour, tightly surrounded by a cadre of other racers. Training for Olympic gold, her life revolved around a grueling schedule of training—physical and mental endurance.
I wonder how often she looked back on those years, thankful for her training. Without it would she have endured? Survived? Do you believe there was a reason for it all, Karolyn? I do.
Her dreams of Olympic gold were not to be. Crushed by the tragic events of 9/11, she instead enlisted in the U.S. Army and aced every physical endurance and leadership test the Army could throw at her. At thirty years old she found herself in Baghdad with the 127th Military Police Company as a machine gunner. She would be the one sitting atop an unarmored Humvee, patrolling Route Irish, the world’s most dangerous 7-1/2 mile stretch from Bagdad to the airport. Her boyfriend back home, Tim Price, also in the Army, was her team leader.
But life for Karolyn was going to become the stuff of nightmares. (Unless you were one of those who bravely served our country in times of war, in places of war, there’s no way to comprehend this ‘stuff of nightmares.’) From 2004-2005, she completed more than 300 combat patrols (temperatures reaching 142 degrees Fahrenheit—can you imagine?). “Every day you either live or die: there’s nothing in between,” she said. And even those days of survival had their horrors.
Daily life consisted of surviving improvised explosive devices (IEDs), mortar attacks, small arms fire and sniper attacks. In 2004, Tim, standing next to her, was shot and killed by one of those snipers. “The horror of war is one thing, the horror of war when you are immersed in it and go back to it the next day with no ability to show emotions is something that truly morphs you from a woman into the most amazing human being; stripped bare of all emotion,” she said. At best it should have been a temporary “morph” but it wasn’t. How can the horror of war not change you?
In April 2005, Karolyn was providing convoy security to a fuel tanker transport when a roadside bomb on a nearby light pole exploded. It was the thirteenth roadside bomb she had encountered, and it was nearly the end of her.
With twelve years of service, Karolyn was sent home. Disabled with spinal injuries, a traumatic brain injury, plagued by migraines, she was honored as a Veteran of the Year and received many medals, including the Iraqi Freedom Medal. Her injuries and medals were not all that followed her home, though, the demon was close behind. The demon had a name: PTSD.
Sometimes you’re okay. Mostly you’re not. The VA’s answer to her mental and physical injuries was to perform, every five months, a procedure which burned the nerves—an ablation—along three of her vertebrae, and prescribe opioids. The opioids were an addiction for five years. The ablations didn’t work.
She functioned through her PTSD. Her training, experience and Master’s degree in Global Cyber Security enabled her to transition into the world of High Threat Security Contracting. Her workplace was the world—forty countries and counting.
Karolyn did not elaborate on the seriousness of her PTSD—her brokenness—or her other injuries. (I had to learn from other sources that she came dangerously close to being a member of Mission 22—the statistical term that says twenty-two veterans daily commit suicide.) Instead she focused on the help she received from people who cared.
And then along came Sophia. Trolling through social media (coincidence?) she saw the story of an abandoned kitten. Found at only eight days old, this newborn had no food, no water, no shelter, and her umbilical cord, wrapped around her left paw, tightened after every attempt to walk. Like Karolyn, this kitten did not give up. Sophia became an amputee, up for adoption. Karolyn knew the two of them had to be together to heal each other. The national media reported it: “Disabled Kitten Adopts Disabled Veteran,”
Though Sophia did wonders for her PTSD, the kitten couldn’t erase all her physical pain. Again, through social media, she was put in touch with Operation Mend at UCLA. In 2015, after ten years of addiction and pain, she became a recipient of UCLA’s ground breaking biotechnology which fused her spine with her own genetic material. They also helped her get off of opioids—forever. She became a real life Bionic Woman.
But the story doesn’t end there. Indeed, I think it’s only the beginning—the prequel. “If technology exists to fix me,” she wondered, “what could it do for little Sophia.” That’s where Karolyn’s inventor, visionary self kicked in. She teamed up with Fablab San Diego (http://staging.fablabsd.org/) and created the first ever 3D printed prototype prosthetic for this little life-saver cat. Karolyn, bionic woman, meet Sophia, bionic cat!
Karolyn created the first ever detachable prosthetic. Oh my! This has far reaching implications. She is on her fourth iteration of the prosthetic, launching herself into the world of innovator, hard at work in developing the expertise and connections needed to finalize the final design.
But wait, the story doesn’t end there. Her nephew was stricken with a rare childhood disease, Neuroblastoma. She spent much time with him in the hospital, wishing she had more inspirational material to help her help him fight this disease. “There’s always something you can do if you’re not being shot at,” she reasoned, and so she went to work. She created a non-profit organization called 3 Paws Up to help and encourage children fighting disease and sickness. To that end, she wrote an award-winning children’s book, Sophia the Bionic Cat. Through 3 Paws Up, Sophia the Bionic Cat gets distributed to children in hospitals around the world.
Karolyn is currently pursuing a doctorate in Cyber security. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of soon-to-be Dr. Karolyn. I wonder if she can see God’s hand in all of this. Looking back on her life, I can certainly see it, and he’s not done with her yet. Karolyn, who just wants to help, continues to volunteer in her community.
All of us listening in on that Covid-enforced Zoom meeting came away with something very special. Karolyn showed us, given our own set of circumstances, what each of us could be capable of—what we can rise to—given the opportunity. It may well not have been the opportunity we would have chosen, but maybe the greater task is learning to trust God, and that he will act with you. God, who has promised to never abandon us, knows what he is doing. Karolyn also encouraged us to act now, for we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I am reminded of the Psalmist’s words (37:4-5): “Commit your way to the LORD, trust in him, and he will act.”
As with any non-profit or technological innovation work, capital is required. Karolyn, by her own admission, has a problem with asking for money. At our meeting she didn’t even ask. But I’m asking. Donate to 3 Paws Up. Buy her book, available by emailing her at karolynsmith@hotmail.com. Twenty dollars includes everything plus an autograph. Better yet, donate a copy of her book to someone in need. Her Facebook pages, Karolyn Smith Speaking, and Sophia the Bionic Cat, tell you how to do so. Support and encourage Karolyn. Subscribe to her Newsletter. Become an Ambassador. We Americans are known for our generosity and our support of others. It’s what Karolyn does. It’s what we do.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
Karolyn epitomizes the strength of character that you’ll find in the seventeen heroes profiled in Eternity through the Rearview Mirror. It was a pleasure to meet a real live hero.