Ashley Christman Lance Cpl. Ethan Miller
Ashley Christman, an energetic duty Major in the US Marine Corps and first-time athlete on the Prince Harry-founded Invictus Games, has a lot to have a good time.
At this 12 months’s games in Whistler and Vancouver, Canada, Christman, 45, competed in skeleton, swimming, indoor rowing and the ladies’s biathlon — winning a silver medal within the biathlon and scoring her personal best in all 4 swimming events she competed in.
And he or she scored those triumphs amid an ongoing battle with a rare, incurable type of cancer.
Following a 2021 diagnosis, Christman underwent a grueling series of surgeries and coverings — nearly dying on three occasions in 2023. But in between chemotherapy, radiation and other measures to avoid wasting her life, Christman discovered and excelled in adaptive sports for wounded and injured servicemembers and veterans via Marine Corps Trial games and the DoD’s Warrior Games. Her achievements included a silver medal within the 2024 Warrior Games’ Ultimate Champion competition, which tasks competitors with eight different sports.
Prince Harry is “just one in every of the blokes,” in line with a blind athlete competing on the 2025 Invictus Games, a global sporting event for wounded service members and veterans. Retired Army Staff Sergeant Michael Murphy — who lost his eyesight in a December 2018 airfield accident in Volos, Greece — discussed a touching moment with […]
“Having the adaptive sports pipeline while I used to be undergoing my medical battle — and still am undergoing my medical battle — has been such a driver to assist me thrive and not only survive,” Christman told Us Weekly on the Vancouver Convention Center on Saturday, February 15.
“I don’t wish to be a cancer survivor. I need to be a cancer thriver. For me, there isn’t a cure, and I actually have to spend each day like this may be my last good day, and do the whole lot I can to make it so,” she said.
That every one led to Christman making Team United States for the Invictus Games 2025. “That was so positively overwhelming. Marines, we wear two family names on our uniform — for me it says ‘Christman,’ after which it says U.S. Marines,” she explained. “The specter of not with the ability to have that uniform makes us feel like we’re losing a family, we’re losing a community. It is a reminder that we’re still a part of that family, even when the uniform changes right into a jersey. We still have opportunities to represent our country and wear that United States on our uniform again. It’s been an incredible driver for me, for my health, for my mental strength, emotional strength — there’s more on the market to do.”
Christman called her first Invictus Games “a stupendous experience.”
Prince Harry has remained dedicated to the military following his retirement from the British Royal Army in 2015. The Duke of Sussex is one in every of many members of the British royal family to serve their country throughout history. Harry was a part of the armed forces for 10 years together with his service starting in 2005. One […]
“Once we get to return together, these are our brothers and sisters in arms from all over the world, from 23 different countries, and we get to reunite after having served in among the most austere, difficult environments on the earth, and are available together in a spot of peace and a spot of affection and a spot of embracing each other,” she continued. “It’s nearly as near world peace as you may get.”
Christman has high praise for Prince Harry, who founded the Games in 2014. “He has a history of service as well, which is what inspired him to carry true to his brothers and sisters in arms with this organization. It still looks like he’s just one in every of my brothers in arms,” she said. “We’re grateful to him and really appreciate him reaching out to us to bring this community together.”
Like the remainder of Team USA, Christman met Harry, 40, and wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, at a personal lunch originally of the Games. “They’re incredible human beings, filled with love, filled with generosity, filled with compassion. They’ve taken the time on multiple occasions to go to with us and are available out and see us compete, and each time, they’ve been very approachable and just warm, you already know? It just looks like also they are a part of that family.”
When the Games wrap on Sunday, February 16, Christman plans to return to work at Camp Pendelton in California. “Day by day I get up, I just hope to make a meaningful contribution,” she told Us. I’m going to offer my life to my country, and I need to do it on my terms, where I get to proceed to offer to my country each day until that happens.
