Fighting was a practiced routine for Lieutenant Ivan Castro. But when a mortar round struck the rooftop of his sniper’s post in Iraq, he found himself in a battle more difficult than even he could have imagined. The direct hit killed two other soldiers and nearly claimed Castro’s life as well. Mangled by shrapnel and badly burned, Castro was medevac’d to Germany more dead than alive. His lungs were collapsed. He couldn’t hear. One eye had been blown out, the nerve to the other severed.
In the weeks and months that followed, Castro would find that physical darkness was nothing compared to the emotional darkness of loss and despair. Desperate for a reason to live, he eventually fought his way back to health through exercise and a single-minded goal: running a marathon. Once he set his course, there was no stopping him. Stubborn to a point that at times bordered on insanity, he managed not only to recover but to return to active duty. Since 2007, he has run over two dozen marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2013, where he was one of the runners diverted when the bombs exploded.
Today, Castro helps prepare soldiers for combat, working exactly as if he were “sighted.” Fighting Blind, this frankly told account of his struggle through adversity, the highs and lows and the always bumpy road in between, is a story of hope and perseverance against the odds: an Unbroken for the present generation.
IVAN CASTRO
Blinded and near death following a battle in Iraq, Ivan Castro fought his way back to health by training for the Marine Corps Marathon. To date he has run in over fifty, cycled across the U.S., and trekked to the South Pole, becoming the first blind American to do so. But his most remarkable achievement was winning the right to remain on active duty as a Green Beret, earning three promotions in the process. His full story is told here for the first time.
JIM DeFELICE
Best known for American Sniper, Jim DeFelice is the author of 15 New York Times best-sellers and a host of other books, many of them celebrating the lives of unsung American heroes.