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MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) – Corwyn Collier’s amazing story now has another chapter — cover model for Men’s Health magazine.
“I’ve been into fitness since I was a teenager growing up my entire life because of sports, I played football, wrestled, ran track,” Collier remembered.
The college athlete joined the Army, and his life changed in 2009.
“I was hit by a roadside bomb while I was serving in Iraq and so the bomb blasted on the complete right side of my body,” he said. “I tell people I’m lucky I’m left handed.”
Lucky, because in addition to damage to his right left, he lost the fingers on his right hand.
He spent nine months recovering at Walter Reed Hospital but then the hard part started.
“After I got injured, I didn’t know what to do with myself,” he said. “I kinda like fell into a depression, fell into just like, ‘What would my life be like?’ because I had based so much of my life on being an athlete.”
With support from his wife and inspired by his young family, Corwyn became an American History and African-American History teacher at his alma mater, Maple Heights High School.
He then turned his attention to bodybuilding, leading him to enter the Men’s Health Ultimate Guy contest, which he won.
“He’s an example of getting back up multiple times in multiple different ways,” said Men’s Health editor Ben Court. “We feel like he’s a real guy, a real dad, a real husband, coach.”
“I feel like I’m doing what my purpose is, which is inspiring other people to lead a healthy life,” Collier said. “We get three things, a mind, a body, and a lifetime. What you do with your first two is going to make the third one.”
Corwyn has written a book about his experiences, Counted Out.
The Men’s Health issue featuring Corwyn is on the newsstands now.
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