Mountie superstar at the Paris Paralympics

B.C.

2024-08-29 11:06 PDT

RCMP Constable Jen McCreesh’s journey to the 2024 Paralympics has been anything but conventional.

The Smithers officer refers to herself as a Jen the Giant-Ginger-Flamingo, owing to her 6’1 frame, long red hair, and the fact that she is a lower leg amputee. This member is well known to her community and throughout the force for her positive attitude and love of humour, even when those jokes are at her own expense. Cst.McCreesh does not embrace the ordinary but rather — embodies the extraordinary.

Nine months into her 15 + year career as an RCMP officer, Cst. McCreesh injured her leg during an arrest in 2009. After the injury was misdiagnosed as just a sprain this member continued to work and run on what ended up being a broken bone in her foot, torn tendons, and ruptured ligaments. It took three months to determine the extent of the injury and once discovered, the damage was so extensive that Cst.McCreesh required a major reconstructive surgery. Pain complications along with a serious infection had her hospitalized for weeks while she underwent a multitude of procedures until the doctors were able to get things under control.

While this might have been a career ending event for some, Cst.McCreesh professes that she goes by the philosophy of team-never-quit. This officer pursued her rehabilitation with the same fierce determination she puts into every file. Cst.McCreesh was able to achieve an unrestricted full return to active duty nine months after surgery. But her ankle was never the same. That was the start of 10 long years of a vicious loop; injury, surgery, back to work; injury, surgery, back to work; until finally, the doctor told her that he didn’t think it was possible for her to run and jump again. Knowing that she would never be happy with a sedentary life, Cst.McCreesh pursued a more final solution - she made the decision to have her lower left leg amputated.

I had this life altering injury, says Cst. McCreesh who joined the RCMP with the dream of one day being a member of the Police Dog Services (PDS). It may have closed the door on my PDS career and it changed my life forever, but it didn’t change the fact that I felt I was meant to remain in policing.

While Cst.McCreesh is self-deprecating about herself, her life-altering injury and her work as a frontline police officer with a prosthetic leg, she also concedes there are inside struggles. Cst.McCreesh was diagnosed with PTSD in 2016 and has been pursuing treatment ever since.

Enter her internationally accredited certified therapy dog Bear. He’s my care bear. These dogs are amazing. He can smell the hormonal changes in my body that happen when I am being triggered. He can sense it and smell the difference often before I even realize that I am getting worked up, she says of her 70-pound cream-coated Retriever. Bear is trained to assist with her PTSD as well as with some mobility tasks when she is not wearing her leg. Bear now travels everywhere with Cst.McCreesh whether she’s at work or adventuring internationally for her sport—Sitting Volleyball.

Cst.McCreesh is a member of Team Canada, competing in the sport of Sitting Volleyball. Unlike other seated Paralympic sports - Sitting Volleyball is not played seated on wheelchairs or assisted by a mobility device but rather seated directly on the ground - I like to call it the glute-scoot-boogie she jokes. The size of court is six metres wide and 10 metres long. Like conventional volleyball, there are six people on the court per side. Three on the front row and three on the back row. It definitely requires an insane amount of upper body and core strength. You have to be touching the floor with your butt if you are touching the ball.

A passionate volleyball player since grade school, Cst. McCreesh continued to play competitively throughout high school and into college. Cst.McCreesh said that even after she began her career in the RCMP she pursued any chance she could to play the game — I’d play on vacation, with family at back- yard barbecues, with recreation groups in my small towns; I’d pay whenever I could just because it was fun!

As a new amputee, she not only put demands on herself but also on the doctors and physiotherapists treating her. Frustrated by doubt (not her own), she challenged her medical team by picking up a Thrive magazine she saw while in her prosthetic clinic in Vancouver. Pointing to the frontpage photo of a Paralympian with a volleyball in her hand, Cst. McCreesh told her medical team, I want to do all of those things, including playing sports as well as returning to her job as a frontline police officer.Taking up Cst.McCreesh’s challenge, the rehabilitation specialist working with her said, that is Felicia, I know her. We worked together and I can introduce you if you are interested.

In December of 2021, Cst. McCreesh found herself on a Sykpe call with Felicia Voss-Shafiq (the athlete from the cover of Thrive magazine). Felicia described sitting volleyball and asked Cst. McCreesh if she’d like to come and try to play when the BC contingent of Team Canada was next in Vancouver. They arranged to set it up for Cst. McCreesh’s next medical trip to city.

For the month of January, Cst.McCreesh joined the BC girls for training. After weeks of practicing a few evenings per week Cst.McCreesh found herself picking up the rhythm of sitting volleyball. Her years of playing standing volleyball competitively helped immensely along with her physical strength and lengthy arm span.

By February 2022, the coach called inviting Cst.McCreesh to a training camp with the rest of the team. As a National team, the members are from all across Canada, spread over six provinces and collect for monthly training camps or competition in Edmonton, Alberta where the team is officially based. By day two of the camp she was approached by the coach — did she have a passport? She didn’t, but like most things in Cst. McCreesh’s life she overcame that obstacle and got a last-minute passport issued. Less than two weeks later she found herself playing with the team in Boston, and as they say, the rest is history.

I still can’t believe this is real, she says. I’ve been so lucky that it’s worked out. My detachment has been supportive of me taking holidays for these competitions. She has spent weekends training with the team in Edmonton where they are based, and has a coach locally in Smithers who she trains with between camps and competition.

Cst. McCreesh is also a certified personal trainer, Crossfit Level 2 coach and sports nutritionist so she has a pretty good idea of what it will take to get her to the Paralympics.

For Cst. McCreesh, the fact she’s going to be a first time Paralympian is still hard to believe. I’m still asking myself, if this is really happening. As a Mountie I get to connect with my community and now I get to connect with communities internationally. I felt like being part of the RCMP allowed me to be a representative of Canada, and this (being a member of Team Canada) is a whole other level, she says. The fact that I can walk through an airport wearing my Team Canada shirt and people see the maple leaf, they want to talk to me. They want to know about the sport and what it is like living in Canada’s north. It’s pretty spectacular, she adds.

The opening ceremonies for the 2024 Paralympic Games is starting August 28 in Paris, France. The all-female team—three coaches, medical lead, team manager and strength and conditioning coach—will first move into the Paralympic Village to train and prepare as on August 24. If anyone would like to follow Team Canada Women’s Sitting Volleyball on their journey to the podium in pursuit of a medal — the Instagram account will be regularly updated with game schedule, times, as well as links to where the games can be viewed. @canadawsittingvb

Cst.McCreesh admits that she could not be pursuing this dream if it wasn’t for the support and encouragement of her friends and family, including those within the membership. Cst.McCreesh humbly admits that she was hesitant about sharing the story of her journey to where she is today. However, she also said that she has received no end of positive messages from both friends and strangers about how inspiring her story is to them.

Her husband will arrive near the end of the Paralympics to attend the final games. He’s been so wonderful and supportive. He recognizes this has been a spectacular outlet for me, she explains.

Both of them are RCMP members working in Smithers. They love the community.

I always wanted to be an officer in a small town where I could focus more on building connections with people, on building awareness through education. I never wanted to be a nameless faceless person with a badge — I wanted people to be able to see me as someone who doesn’t just work in this community, but someone who is part of the community, says Cst.McCreesh.

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