Check out our past featured Adaptive Athletes
Meet our 2025 Featured Adaptive Athlete:
DJ Angelillo of Bristol, a self-proclaimed “gear head”, has been into dirt bikes his whole life. “Fixing things, building things, and riding … I love it.”
But one June day in 2021, a quick ride changed his life.
DJ and his friends decided to take an unplanned ride through the woods behind his house. He walked right past his helmet – something he wore on most rides – hopped on his bike, and drove off ahead of his friends.
He doesn’t remember what happened next, but a friend riding behind DJ found him on the ground, unresponsive. He had a traumatic brain injury and was paralyzed on his entire right side. He couldn’t talk, and it wasn’t clear if he would ever see properly or walk again.
DJ came to Gaylord Hospital to “relearn everything that had once been second nature to me.”
He worked hard in therapy. Five days after getting to Gaylord, DJ moved his right foot. Soon after, he stood up. In August, two months after the accident, he walked out of Gaylord Hospital with a cane on discharge day.
Since then, DJ has married, works full-time, and loves nothing more than chasing after his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Ava Jane. He continues to improve his gait and mobility in Gaylord outpatient physical therapy in Wallingford, where, in recent months, he’s made it his goal to be able to run again.
This June 14, Ava Jane will be waiting at the finish line to watch her dad, the 2025 Gaylord Gauntlet Featured Adaptive Athlete, finish his first 5k race on the campus of the very hospital that helped him walk again.
DJ will go through the course with his “Angelillo Strong” team of supporters, including family, friends, members of his former Gaylord Hospital care team, and his current Gaylord outpatient physical therapist, Nicole.
To DJ, the race isn’t just mud and obstacles, but symbolizes everything he’s been rebuilding since his accident, almost exactly four years earlier.
“Anything is possible if you put in the work.”
Gaylord Gauntlet Featured Sports Association Athlete
Each year, an athlete is selected to be the featured Gaylord Sports Association Athlete! The featured athlete completes the race with the support of the Gaylord Sports Association Gauntlet Team. The team typically includes a recreational therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and other supporting team members such as a belay team. We provide adaptive equipment as needed such as an all-terrain chair to navigate the course and a climbing harness with a belay team for safety. The team meets prior to race day to discuss race techniques, and safety and to practice skills that will be needed on race day. The athlete and team compete on the same course and obstacles as all the Gauntlet racers!
The Gaylord Sports Association featured athlete is selected by the Sports Association Gauntlet Team. Featured athletes are typically someone who has recently been a patient at Gaylord and who would not be able to complete the race without the support of a therapy-based team and/or use of specialized adaptive equipment. Past featured athletes have included athletes with a spinal cord injury, amputation, stroke or other mobility impairment.
If you are interested in being considered as the Gaylord Gauntlet Featured Athlete, please contact the Gaylord Sports Association at sports@gaylord.org or 203-284-2772.
