Salvage Life At A Glance

Salvage Life was founded by Andrew Hairston of St. Thomas, VI after a life-altering accident. While he and his wife were moving to a new home their mattress fell out of the truck onto the road; while loading it back into the truck a reckless driver hit him. Doctors were able to salvage his right leg, but his left leg had to be amputated above the knee. He was involved in sports throughout his life both back home and in the states, and was able to remain active and compete in sports while recovering with the help of the military and nonprofits. He felt that sports restored his life mentally and psychologically and after realizing there were limited organizations providing these opportunities in the Virgin Islands he wanted to make that change, thus he founded Salvage Life with the goal of inspiring others to remain active regardless of their situations in hopes of raising awareness to different disabilities in the US Virgin Islands. Toward the end of his Marine Corps career, Andrew noticed firsthand the impact of adaptive sports on recovering servicemembers in their recovery through events such as the DoD Warrior Games. Using his knowledge and network within the adaptive sports community, he became an advocate and mentor for adaptive athletes transitioning out of the military. Andrew hopes to create new opportunities for adaptive sports through Salvage Life both in the Camp Lejeune area and his home of the Virgin Islands and create a new generation of adaptive athletes of all skill and activity levels.