By Chris Conte
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - As a Lance
Corporal in the Marines, Ben Maenza will tell you he never intended to come
home with a Purple Heart.
"No one really wants the Purple
Heart, but I'll take it," the 24-year-old explained while sitting on his
back porch in Brentwood Sunday afternoon.
"I got injured on October 21st,
2010," he added.
It's a story repeated too many
times, Ben was on patrol in Afghanistan that day in October.
He put one foot forward, when an IED
erupted beneath his feet. When he woke up in the hospital, both of his legs
were gone.
"I don't think they (Afghan
rebels) are trying to kill us, just trying to maim us, demoralize us," he
says about the war.
But Ben decided he wasn't about to
let that moment define his life.
"It's just about accepting the
fact that this is who I'm gonna be," he says about his life now. "The
more I train them, the better I do," he says.
Recently, the 24-year-old decided to
pedal his way across the country on a specialized road bike, using nothing more
than his hands and determination.
"I had to stretch my fingers,
my hands, my arms," he adds.
It took Ben and his biking buddy 60
days. They started in Florida, spun their way across the south and 2,500
later, they found their way to the Pacific.
"It was amazing, just seeing
all the vegetation, all of the wildlife... there's so much out there," he
said about the trip.
Ben didn't just do it for himself,
he did it for the Semper Fi Fund, an organization that helps out other wounded
Marines.
"So far we've raised over
$90,000," Ben noted.
More than anything, Ben hopes his
ride will inspire others.
"I'm gonna continue to live my life and continue
to do whatever it is I wanna do."
