A wounded warrior and his daughter lean on each other for inspiration

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Since she was 3 years old, by then already having found her passion, Lexi Terry has felt comfort every time she steps on a soccer field.

That’s where the star center back knows she can find so much. But it’s not only on the pitch — it’s also on the sideline. She sees strength, confidence, perseverance and an inspiration.

For the 16-year-old Annapolis resident, all of that comes from her loving father, Jae Terry. She’s grateful for that.

A former lieutenant commander for Naval Special Warfare Command, Jae, 48, was severely wounded during the last of his seven combat deployments and his third in Afghanistan in 2011.

Now a systems engineer at the U.S. Department of Defense, he proudly roams the McDonogh sideline, a camera always in hand, amazed at the skills and poise Lexi displays. A prosthetic right leg reveals his heroic service to our country.

Lexi leans on that sideline constantly.

“I love my dad so much,” she said. “He’s the most tenacious, persistent person I know. I don’t remember him with his leg, only without, and I remember always being in the hospital with him. So I saw him learn how to walk again and it’s just really inspiring what he went through and how he bounced back.”

When Kimberly Terry told her husband she wanted another child to raise alongside their son, Malcolm, now a junior at Columbia playing football, Jae jokingly proclaimed “only if it’s a girl.”

Sure enough.

“I remember he had a dream and he told me, ‘This is what she’s going to look like,’” said Kimberly, who is the principal at Hillsmere Elementary School in Annapolis.

Scheduled to arrive on Aug. 28, 2007, Kimberly Alexis (Lexi) Terry was born two weeks early on Aug. 14, her mother’s birthday.

“I always say that in one fell swoop, Lexi came in and stole my name, my birthdate and my man,” said Kimberly, who loudly cheers alongside Jae from the sideline. “When she was born, Jae lifted her and said ‘That’s her. That was the baby in my dream.’ And from that moment on, I knew Lexi could do no wrong.”

A structured bond found in so many military families has helped the Terry family pull through after Jae and his fellow servicemen were ambushed while on foot patrol in Afghanistan.

He suffered multiple physical injuries, including severe trauma to his right leg and left arm in addition to a traumatic brain injury, which resulted in post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the following years, he underwent a number of surgeries performed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, appreciative of all the great work from doctors and staff. They salvaged his arm, but the decision was made to have his lower right leg amputated in 2015.

Family support was steadfast. Lexi’s encouragement was especially remarkable.

“She was so young when I got hurt and I spent a lot of time trying to save my leg. But when we finally had to take it, she was there and one of the first to see me after I woke up from surgery. I still remember — she just has such a great sense of humor and good heart — and she was telling me, ‘Now daddy, my leg is as long as yours.’ She was right,” he said. “And then I remember when I got my first prosthetic leg, she was there for that. She watched me struggle and work through that and she’s always been encouraging. So I know even during some of my darkest days, just thinking about her helped push me through.”

Lexi has always considered her dad a superhero.

“At the time, I didn’t fully understand, so I was just always happy to be around him and with him. And when things would get hard, my mom was always there and my brother stepped up a lot. We have a big support system,” she said.

Any time she was not by her dad’s side, Lexi preferred to be on the soccer field. Encouraged to try different sports and activities, Lexi, aside from a brief try in gymnastics, always knew soccer was her thing.

“It’s great to know what you’re doing is working and so it’s like what you’re doing has a purpose,” she said. “I tried gymnastics for about three months, but once I started playing soccer, I never wanted to play anything else.”

Jae isn’t always comfortable going out in public places, but there is no stopping him when the time comes to watch Malcolm play football and Lexi play soccer.

“He just inspires us both to do the best we can do and that things can be taken away from you so easily, so live in the moment and always give your all,” Lexi said.

She is doing just that.

Maintaining a 3.8 GPA and recently committed to play soccer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Lexi is having a breakout junior season for undefeated McDonogh School (11-0).

Mostly a midfielder on her club team, she was asked to fill a void at center back for the benefit of the team. Her consistently smooth play has helped limit opponents to just eight goals this season while the Eagles have posted four shutouts.

“She never complained and always wants to do what’s best for the team,” McDonogh coach Harry Canellakis said. “Right from her freshman year, we knew we had to get Lexi in the spine of our team because she’s a great leader and you want her directing traffic and leading as much as she possibly can.”

Lexi believes the Eagles have what it takes to claim the program’s ninth Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship.

“It’s definitely the goal,” she said. “I think we need to stay disciplined and not get too ahead of ourselves.”

Jae will be there, always looking to capture another special moment, happy to share the prized keepsakes found through his camera lens.

A combat photographer was on the scene when the ambush occurred, which motivated Jae, who joined the Navy in 1999, to get into photography. Now, it serves as an invaluable outlet for him. On that fateful day, Jae remembers waking up in a cloud of dust, looking down and being able to see the grass he was lying on through the hole in his arm.

“Her capturing that moment made me think about what she saw through her eyes. I always thought that it was really unique to capture a moment because a picture says so much in so many different ways,” he said. “It just spoke to me.”

With his work on the sideline, the expressions he catches from players celebrating after an Eagles goal is scored are the most priceless.

“You can look at a single picture and see a certain movement or expression that paints a unique picture for me. I want to give that back to all the girls,” Jae said.

Jae, who, like Kimberly, comes from a military family, misses the opportunity to serve his country and people all over the world. He’s quick to point out that there’s nothing like it.

He’s thankful to have a family that has supported him through all the trying times, right from the start when the phone call came.

“That’s just the way we are,” Jae said. “We’ve always been oriented like it’s a team effort and we do everything together, push through and continue to push.”

Part of the push has sparked an interest for Lexi — and a potential career path. Next summer, she will intern for a lab that makes prosthetics, and she plans to pursue it as her college major.

“I’ve always had a passion to major in some type of medical field to help people. So it’s like a full circle moment,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in it and now knowing people that are like my dad who I can help — I’m just really passionate for that kind of work.”