SAN DIEGO - An event being held this weekend in San Diego is giving many a chance to honor those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and service members who have fallen since.
As a little kid, Redmond Ramos would not let wounds go un-bandaged.
"My brothers and I would patch each other up when we'd get 'boo boo's,'" Ramos explained.
It was only natural for him to become a Navy corpsman. He deployed to Afghanistan and patched his Marines up.
"I loved being deployed," he said. "You're going on a combat deployment, but you're the one who's there to help people."
In one situation, an IED blasted a Marine, and Ramos rushed to help.
"I ended up stepping on my own IED," He explained. "[I'm the] luckiest man alive. I got out with a papercut."
Ramos felt helpless when he got home, saying, "I just thought I don't have any reason to be here anymore."
The Travis Manion Foundation, which empowers veterans and families of the fallen develop character in future generations, stepped in. They helped Ramos become a motivational speaker. He knew he was making a difference when a mom wrote to him.
"Her son, who was injured, felt that he was never going to have a girlfriend because he felt that his injury made him ugly," Ramos explained.
She showed her son Ramos' inspirational posts.
"It made her son say, 'You know what, I can do this,' and he ended up asking somebody to prom," he said.
The foundation asked Ramos to emcee the 9/11 Heroes Run on Sept. 18.
"This run is really not to highlight the people that got hurt," Ramos said. "We're here to highlight the people that made the ultimate sacrifice."
He is talking about people like Travis Manion, who was killed in action.
They are why he calls a getting his leg blown off a "papercut."
"The injury has just given me a leg up in life," Ramos said. "It's a pun! I think the injury is the best thing to ever happened to me."
He is still helping people by inspiring them.
"You can take your injury and just look cool with it," Ramos added.
In Ramos' case, it has not stopped him from becoming a competitive runner.
The 5K starts at the USS Midway on Sunday at 7:00 a.m.
For more information, visit http://www.travismanion.org/911-heroes-run
