TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Up on Mt. Lemmon is where 37-year-old, Ryan Beamish, feels at home.
"It's that sense of freedom, just like when you were a kid," said Beamish.
Beamish feels most free when he hops on a mountain bike.
"Once you're on that bike, you're in your own world," said Beamish.
In 2007, Beamish was stationed overseas as a Marine when a fellow service member, and close friend, was killed in a terrible accident.
"I lost a good friend in Kuwait. He was crushed under a howitzer. I was on the barrel with him. Later in the deployment three marines were injured. Two of them were very near and dear to my heart," said Beamish.
After returning home, Beamish was diagnosed with PTSD and turned to mountain biking as an outlet to cope.
"It's the sense of freedom. It's the sense of independence. Getting back out there. That joy. The adrenaline," said Beamish.
He is passing that joy onto others. Even though Beamish calls Tucson home, he travels across the country with the non-profit Semper Fi & America's Fund to help wounded veterans and service members find happiness in a new way.
"They saw my passion for my brothers and sisters in arms. They saw my passion for bikes. It just kind of meshed," said Beamish.
Proof that something as simple as hoping on a bike, can change a life.
"Like any of us, we just want to have a purpose. They put me back in the fight. That's what I want to do. I just want to help," said Beamish.
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Megan Meier is a reporter for KGUN 9. Megan graduated from Arizona State Universityʼs Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications in May 2018. While pursuing her degree in broadcast journalism, Megan interned at the City of Phoenix. Share your story ideas and important issues with Megan by emailing megan.meier@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
