Former Milford Cop Doesn't Let Crippling Illness Slow Him Down

Submitted by Executive Director for House of Heroes Connecticut, Dennis Buden

MILFORD, CT — In April of 2016, Collin Walsh’s lifetime dream had come true. The former NCAA All-American track athlete out of Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and, later, top-ranked cadet in the Connecticut Police Academy’s 2014 graduating class, had resigned his post with the Milford police force and was on his way to Washington, D.C., to join the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service as a special agent specializing in counter-terrorism.

Mere days later, excruciating pain piercing through his lower back and legs, Walsh’s dream had turned into a nightmare, his plans shattered by the stunning, rapid onset of a rare and debilitating form of MS that ultimately left him in a wheel chair, paralyzed from the chest down. Doctors ultimately told Collin he would never walk again.

Nineteen months later, Walsh has defied the odds. This Saturday, he will make a triumphant return to Moore Field House on the SCSU campus on Saturday, Nov. 11, “competing” as it were in the 55-meter dash at SCSU’s annual James Barber/Wilton Wright Alumni Track & Field Meet as family, friends and former teammates cheer him on.

“I will be returning home to the SCSU indoor track, a place of immense spiritual resolve for me, to show people what impossible looks like,” says Walsh.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m., with the 55-meter dash slated for approximately 6:30 p.m. The event takes place at the Moore Field House, 125 Wintergreen Avenue in New Haven.

As he will be using his “walking sticks” during the event, Wash’s triumph Saturday will be the simple fact that he is competing – and walking – at all. His goal will not be, as it might once have been during his collegiate competition days, to set records or finish first, but to simply “finish.”

“It's not just about MS, it's about making the impossible happen,” says Walsh. “I was told in my most desperate moments that I would never walk again. People need to see impossible triumph happen because naysayers the world over are far too busy talking about what's impossible.

“My completing this 55-meter race on my own two feet will be an impossible win, and I hope it will drown out the negativity that often plagues others facing similarly desperate situations.”

The Barber/Wright Meet offers alumni, friends and supporters of SCSU track and field and cross country a chance to reconnect and support the program and university. Walsh, who graduated magna cum laude from SCSU in 2008, is a former team captain and NCAA All-American in the Distance Medley Relay event. He still sits on five of SCSU's top 10 all-time performance lists for various track events.

Saturday’s Men’s Mile – an event in which Walsh formerly competed at the highest level during official meets – has been designated the Collin Walsh Men’s Mile in his honor. Jack Maloney, the retired coach of the SCSU track squad who coached Walsh, was the driving force behind the honor.

“You’re talking about someone here who has Mount Everest in front of him, and he is willing to make that climb,” says Maloney. “Collin Walsh was an outstanding student athlete who excelled in the classroom and was a great leader on our team, someone who always did everything he had to do to achieve the highest goals, giving 120 percent all the time.

“And this drive has carried over to his crippling medical situation. Collin’s competing tomorrow will be an inspiration to everyone fortunate enough to witness it.”

The 32-year-old Walsh grew up in West Haven, he and his two brothers raised by their mother after their father passed away when Collin was only 6. Collin’s dad was a marathon runner, and Collin took after him. His competitive drive, mental toughness and physical skills earned him All-State and All-New England honors in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track at Notre Dame High School of West Haven and All-American status at SCSU.

While at SCSU, Walsh earned a White House internship during the administration of President George W. Bush, an experience that first sparked his interest in federal service.

“What set Collin apart from other interns was that he went above and beyond all our expectations,” says Collin’s former supervisor, former White House Director of the Office of Agency Liaison Jaclyn Andrasek on Walsh’s Linked In page. “He continually impressed us with his articulate questions and his passion for always learning more.”

After two years in the pre-MBA program at the University of Connecticut School of Business, Walsh went on to Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law – not with the intention of becoming a lawyer, but to apply such education to a career in law enforcement. “That was a dream of mine for a long time,” says Walsh, who ultimately did, indeed, become an attorney. “I always wanted to serve, to be part of the community, to wear a badge and to do some good with it.”

While at Indiana, Walsh became the school’s first exchange student in the Jindal Global Law School in New Delhi, India. During this time, the terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, struck Walsh hard, inspiring him to dream of serving his country through a career in diplomatic security and counter-terrorism.

Walsh applied to work with the U.S. State Department. While he awaited word on his application, not knowing if he would ever be considered, he went on to the Connecticut Police Academy, earning the top cadet spot in 2014. Walsh recalls his determination to finish first in his class.

“I wanted to finish first in my class in every possible way,” he says. “My classmates all knew I had studied law, and they called me The Counselor. Others called me The Robot, because I was so robotic. I’d wake up every day at 4 a.m., all the others woke up at 6.”

Walsh was so determined to succeed and realize his dreams that sleep was sometimes not an option. Following his evening graduation from the Academy – a ceremony at which he gave a speech as the top cadet in his class – Walsh stepped off stage and proceeded to drive straight through the night to Arlington, Virginia to make an appointment for a required Department of State interview, part of the diplomatic security job application process.

Walsh arrived in Arlington at 5:30 a.m., showered, dressed, took the interview – and passed. The State Department appointment was far from certain, though, and Walsh chose to become a City of Milford police officer.

He served more than two years there – studying in his spare time for the Connecticut Bar Exam with Milford Police Chief Keith Mello’s knowledge and blessing – before getting the call from Washington early last year and finally being offered the State Department position.

That is when Collin’s world changed.

Today, his steadfast wife Amika by his side, Collin continues to work to overcome his disability. He returned home from India in June following months pursuing a rigorous naturopathic course of treatment. It included a strict organic diet, prescribed supplements and round-the-clock physiotherapy including three hours of daily massage. He would come back to Connecticut periodically during this time for injections of the Immunosuppressive MS drug Tysabri.

Throughout his ordeal, Collin has maintained a remarkably positive outlook and is convinced the course of treatment he has followed and continues to follow, combined with his inner strength, will lead to a full recovery. After returning home in June Collin used walking sticks for the first time, and he even scaled the stairs in his home, proudly posting about his accomplishment on Facebook.

Walsh firmly believes that he was chosen to take on and meet this challenge, and recalls an incident from his childhood that he believes was a precursor to his present-day circumstances.

“It is almost as if I was put on this earth to beat this,” Collin says. “When I was a boy, someone close to me got very sick, and I remember actually saying a prayer to God. I prayed, ‘please give something like this to me one day, because I know I am strong enough to beat it.’

“I have an almost spiritual belief that this is not the end for me, but the beginning,” he concludes. “I believe I was chosen for this challenge, so that I may overcome this, share my story and inspire others to do the same.”

Walsh hopes to continue his career at the State Department in early 2018 in a to-be-determined role.

Contributed photos