Gary Verrazono

Gary Verrazono is from Westchester, New York. After Gary graduated high school, he signed up for the Marine Corps. When he left the service, he received his Associate’s degree in Emergency Medicine and started working as a Paramedic for the City of Westchester. Gary eventually moved with his family to Las Vegas and started a new career as a flight medic for Valley Hospital. He worked as a flight medic for a few years until he lost some good friends while on a call; the helicopter they were in crashed and killed the crew, including the patient they rescued.

Gary returned to school and received his Associate’s degree in Surgical Technology and worked in the operating room at UMC trauma center. While working at the trauma center, he worked part-time as a Las Vegas Motor Speedway rescue worker. He eventually went to work full-time for the Speedway as a paramedic. While working at the Speedway, Gary was offered a job as the operations manager, which entailed setting up equipment for all NASCAR and NHRA venues. Gary eventually started traveling for NASCAR full-time and was on the road traveling to different NASCAR tracks every week.

In 2012 while getting the track ready for a race, a piece of equipment malfunctioned, tipped over, and fell on top of him, crushing his whole right side. Gary had to be airlifted to Santa Rosa Trauma Center in California in serious condition. While in the hospital, he died several times while in surgery. Gary woke up not knowing that he had been intubated for seven weeks. That is when he realized he had lost his right arm and leg.

After eight months, Gary returned to Las Vegas to start his new life. After about a year and a half, he moved to Denver because he realized that Colorado had so much to do for a person missing limbs. Gary volunteers for a few non-profit organizations and advocates for people who are or will be losing a limb. Since Gary’s been in Colorado, he has learned that he can do whatever he wants with some adaptations.

Gary started attending Adaptive Adventures events in 2014 and has since participated in every sport offered. Gary became a lead volunteer for the organization and can be seen at any local event loading and unloading equipment, facilitating registration and manning the grill. Gary joined the Board of Directors to continue giving back and making a positive impact on the organization.