A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY CHANGED MANDY KLOEPFER’S LIFE. ADAPTIVE CYCLING HELPED HER REBUILD IT.

One of the first signs of freedom came during a trip to McDonald’s for a milkshake. While recovering from a severe traumatic brain injury, Mandy Kloepfer spent most days in a Chicago rehabilitation hospital. She moved between therapy sessions and appointments, relying on others for nearly everything. Still, each day offered new chances to prove her determination. Then one afternoon, her mother and sister took her out for a milkshake.

“Going to get a shake meant that I wasn’t stuck inside the hospital walls and able to see the world,” she said.

For Kloepfer, that short trip outside was the first time she felt less confined and more connected to life beyond her hospital room after the 2007 crash—where her vehicle was T-boned by a school bus—changed her life forever. That sense of possibility would shape her future in unexpected ways she’d never imagined.

Years later, building on that early determination, she found herself at the starting lines of adaptive cycling races, and moving closer to a goal she still pursues, qualifying for the Paralympic Games.

The Future She Once Imagined

Before the crash, Kloepfer had a clear picture of the life she expected to build. In middle school, she discovered a love of math and began thinking about becoming a secondary education teacher. By high school, she joined JROTC instead of taking traditional physical education classes and began considering military service.

After graduating, she enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard and attended One Station Unit Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

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“I had the intention to retire from the National Guard, get married, and start a family after returning home from training,” she said.

However, after the crash, even ordinary parts of the day had to be learned again, marking a totally new phase in her journey.

Rebuilding Life One Milestone at a Time

Recovery from a severe traumatic brain injury was gradual.

“In the beginning, neither freedom nor independence existed,” Kloepfer said. “I was completely dependent on others. But I never lost hope.”

Gradually, everyday abilities returned. She learned how to drive again, moved into her own apartment, and even returned to horseback riding. She also went back to school, where she earned an associate’s, a bachelor’s in accounting, and a master’s in forensic accounting.

Driving again, living on her own, and finishing school each lit a spark of independence within her, inspiring her to continue reclaiming her life.

Living With Dysarthria

One lasting effect of Kloepfer’s injury is dysarthria, a neurological motor speech disorder that affects speech clarity. The hardest part, she says, is people’s reactions to it.

“I struggle with this a lot,” she said. “Many people don’t listen and often ask questions they have to someone else, not me.”

She hopes people will understand,

“I am no different than your cousin Bob or brother Jack in terms of intelligence,” she said. “I just speak differently.”

For Kloepfer, being heard and given time to speak represents not just inclusion, but triumph over daily obstacles.

Finding Freedom on Three Wheels

Adaptive cycling gradually became part of Kloepfer’s recovery. After returning home, she began riding again on a recumbent tricycle. Kloepfer said the nonprofit Salute Inc. helped her purchase the bike through The Bike Rack in St. Charles, Illinois.

Years later, she attended a military para-cycling camp. Coaches placed her on a handcycle, but it didn’t work very well for her. Instead, she said she was introduced to coach Steve Peace, an inspiring athlete who rides an upright racing trike used in international adaptive cycling competitions. With support from the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s Operation Rebound program, Kloepfer said she was able to obtain her very own trike.

“Being on the trike gave me a sense of freedom and the ability to run,” she said, describing the pure exhilaration and motivation it sparked within her.

For the first time since her injury, she said movement felt natural again, fueling hope for new big horizons.

Racing Toward the Next Goal

Today, Kloepfer competes in USA Cycling para-cycling events, continuing to rebuild strength after years of traumatic brain injury recovery. For as long as she could remember, the start line represented something she valued deeply.

“I always looked forward to events where I could just ride and feel free,” she said. “I loved being around others who somewhat understood what I was dealing with and going through.”

But like many athletes striving toward greatness, her experience has included setbacks, each one met with unwavering resilience. In November 2025, Kloepfer broke her ankle, an injury that forced her to step away from racing for a time.

Now her focus is on returning, driven by courage and a determination to reclaim her strength.

“It’s a step toward getting back to where I was,” she said.

And beyond that lies a goal she says she continues to pursue, qualifying for the Paralympic Games.

A Different Kind of Resilience

Kloepfer still thinks about the question many people ask after experiencing a life-changing event. “Why me?” she said. “

I don’t understand why I was put through any of that, neither then nor now.”

Since then, she said, even small frustrations now feel like challenges she is ready to overcome, an incredible testament to her newfound inner strength. Mandy says her daily goal is “to be more resilient to everyday actions" and "to just go with it.”

Though the future she pictured after training, military retirement, marriage, and family, is not the life she is living now, Kloepfer continues to find meaning and motivation in new ways. When Mandy Kloepfer rolls to the starting line, she brings what she fought hard to regain… freedom and independence, inspiring others with each push.

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