Courtesy Photo | (Photo courtesy Steve Flemming) Retired Navy Master Chief (Center) at the top of Mount...... read more read more
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TACOMA Wash.- Retired Navy Master Chief Steve Flemming is a bit of a mountain climber, physically and metaphorically. The Team US member is in Tacoma, Washington, for one last training camp with teammates before heading to Vancouver, Canada, where they will compete in the first Winter Invictus Games. “I'm incredibly grateful and blessed that I got picked to be on this team, and I'm excited to be going next week,” said Flemming.
Flemming’s world changed forever when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2018. He was faced with climbing a medical mountain, which he was a novice at. “I had so many questions like how do I stay healthy? What do I need to do to take care of myself? Then, the other thing is fighting to stay in the Navy. I went through my medical board process, and I was ultimately cleared to stay in the Navy,” said the married father of two.
His health mountain climbing was far from over as he had another diagnosis that would propel him to where he is today. “On my last assignment in January 2023, I was diagnosed with pancreatic Neuro Endocrine Cancer.”
Neuroendocrine cancer is pretty rare amongst all cancers and, for Flemming, is inoperable. “I'm very strict on my diet vitamins. Lots of holistic stuff. I'm currently doing a specialized form of radiation called PRRT and things that would help prevent it from growing as freely.”
Believe it or not, he recognizes his current situation as a positive irony. “The kicker is that had I not had MS, I would've probably never found the cancer. Interestingly, something that I thought was going to be so terrible ended up being something that potentially helped me buy more time because the doctor did tell me the most common way they find my cancer is in the autopsy.”
He admits he knew nothing about adaptive sports and was emotionally processing what he’d been told. Before he dove into recovery with adaptive sports, something extraordinary happened. The connection he made through a nonprofit had an offer he couldn’t refuse. “He said I think this is kind of fate. I've got one seat available to take 10 disabled veterans up Mount Kilimanjaro in August, and he's like, do you want it?” explained Flemming.
He took the opportunity to “break the cycle,” as he says, and start living his life. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in August 2023. “It was challenging six days to get from start to finish at 19 341 feet. It's cold, long, no joke, but it was gratifying, and I'm very proud of it.”
After that mountain, he decided to try the adaptive sports mountain. “I told my Navy Wounded Warrior case management team I didn’t know adaptive sports. They were pumped that I climbed Kilimanjaro, which started the adaptive sports conversation. I went to my first adaptive sports camp in November 2023 and the rest is history. I competed at the Warrior Games for Team Navy. I met a bunch of incredible athletes and service members in and through their journey.”
His journey continues with TEAM US as they travel to Vancouver, Canada, to compete in the 2025 Winter Invictus Games at Whistler Feb 8-16th. Flemming will compete in Alpine skiing, skeleton, wheelchair basketball, and swimming. His favorite sport is skeleton. “Skelton is incredible. I loved training for it at Lake Placid. It's something that most people don't ever do. It's not something that you can go outside and practice, so I pushed hard to get a skeleton seat because, again, I'm from Texas. I'm new to it, but for the skeleton, I'm like, when else am I ever going to be in a tube face down on the ice, screaming at whatever speed downhill? This is my astronaut moment. You know it's like I'll never do this again!”
He encourages other wounded, injured, and ill military members by asking them a simple question. “What's your mountain? That's something I talk to people about, and everybody needs, no matter who you are, will conquer it.”
“I spent my entire adult life Wearing the flag on a uniform, and for it to now be applied to something like this? There are a lot of adaptive sports athletes with MS or an individual struggling with MS that have mobility issues and then obviously those with cancer, so for me, it's representing my country. Still, I'm also representing individuals of different injury or illness classes that I hope even if just one person or a couple of people see and draw some idea or strength [for their] their inspiration from it like that's a win!”
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2025 12:51 |
| Story ID: | 490253 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Team US Member ready to climb another mountain at Winter Invictus Games, by MaryTherese Griffin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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