Overcoming challenges

EPHRATA — Back in December, Ephrata High School senior Ben Belino received the EHS Challenge Coin, a memento for Tiger students and staff who accomplish extraordinary things. 

Belino was involved in a head-on vehicle collision while returning home from a volunteer firefighting drill in Quincy in October of 2022, an accident that eventually led to the amputation of his left leg.

“The challenge coin, it shows the past year and everything I went through,” Belino said. “All the challenges I faced, and all the steps I took to get to where I am now. It’s a really proud achievement that I have and something that I wish for everyone to see; to achieve these awards, it takes steps to get there.”

Ben, a member of the Ephrata High School cross country and track and field teams, made his return to athletics in the same school year after his accident; his first meet of the track and field season was on April 20, 2023, where he qualified for the 2A/3A/4A State Track and Field Championships in two events.

As a junior, he won state titles in the boys 100-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and 1,600-meter events last spring. This fall in cross country, Belino won another championship in the boys wheelchair race at the State Cross Country Championships in Pasco.

“We’ve definitely had a lot of successes — five state titles in seven months — but there was also a lot of big downfalls,” Belino said. 

In what he described as “any other Monday,” Ben went to firefighter training in Quincy after a day of school and cross country practice on October 10, 2022. 

“Ten minutes after leaving the station, all of a sudden my world changed,” Ben said.

He woke up four days after the accident at the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, having been airlifted there the night of his accident after initially being sent to the Quincy Valley Medical Center.

“I was just extremely confused and in a lot of pain,” he said. “I had no idea what was going on because I was under for four days.”

During his time at Sacred Heart, he underwent 11 surgeries.

“Initially, it was just slowly putting him back together,” said Laura Belino, Ben’s mother. “They worked with his soft tissue, internal organs first and then started with the bones. Every single one of his limbs had broken bones, plus his pelvis.”

After initial repairs to his leg, an infection began that spread its way along the muscles of his leg. 

“I spent an extra month in the hospital just trying to get the infection under control,” Ben said. “We got it somewhat under control and came up with a plan to control the infection, and then Nov. 30 I was transferred over to St. Luke’s. I was doing physical therapy every day to help recover.”

The infection came back after Ben was released from the hospital, which prompted an emergency surgery in mid-January of 2023. After this surgery, the discussion of having to amputate his leg began.

“He wasn’t 18 yet, he was 17, and because they had been working with him for over a month-and-a-half, they could see how intelligent he was and how well-grounded he was,” Laura said. “They wanted him to be able to make the decision rather than us making it for him, and we agreed with that.”

An amputation surgery was performed Feb. 16, 2023. The decision was made by Ben after a conversation with the surgeon, Laura said.

“I really liked the fact that the surgeon called him up and explained everything to him; asked him what his decision was, and also asked him if he understood the ramifications of his decision, and had him repeating stuff back,” Laura Belino said. “Making sure, really, what he was doing, why he was doing it, and that that was what he wanted to do.”

It didn’t take Ben long to get used to his wheelchair; he said he could transfer and push himself in the wheelchair in two weeks. Then, he was introduced to wheelchair racing by track coaches at EHS.

“They showed me wheelchair racing and it gave me another way to compete, which at first was going to be a temporary thing until I could be ready to run again with a prosthetic,” Ben said. “Come to find out, I actually have a very deep love for wheelchair racing and wheelchair basketball.”

Ben’s first race was on April 20, 2023, at a Central Washington Athletic Conference league meet in Yakima.

“I went from thinking I would never compete again, due to my injuries, to my coach connecting me, and now I have wheelchair track, wheelchair basketball and so many great opportunities,” Belino said.

Just over a month later, he was competing at the state championship meet in Tacoma where he won four championships.

“At first I was really proud, then I thought about it too much; I didn’t have any competition at state,” Belino said. “Then I got reminded that eight months prior to standing on the podium with the four state medals, I was in the ICU with no chance of survival. Just from my experience of talking to other people that went through traumatic accidents and went back to competing, it took them years to compete again.”

Racing isn’t the only sport that Belino competes in; he’ll be heading to Cheney to play wheelchair basketball for Eastern Washington University after graduating this year.

“I saw Eastern as a great opportunity to compete in parasports with my disability,” Belino said. “I talked with the Eastern coach, and me and him just kept talking for the next couple of months. I was looking at what I wanted to do, and I decided to commit to Eastern.”

Seeing her son get back to the activities he enjoys — the Civil Air Patrol, athletics, and more — was a proud moment, Laura said.

“There’s so many things that Ben does,” she said. “Being an athlete is just one small part of him. He’s a volunteer firefighter, seeing him back at the banquet that spring was absolutely amazing; seeing him stand up, he got a big ovation for that – he was standing on one leg, but he stood up out of his wheelchair. That was huge.”

Support for the Belino family came through in droves after Ben’s accident; whether it was at the St. Rose of Lima School in Ephrata, a meal train, past and present coworkers of Laura and Ariel Belino, fire districts or local businesses in Ephrata, the community came together to lift up a family in need.

“The community support was just amazing, at the time of the accident and on for the next couple of months,” Laura Belino said. 

Ben grew up wanting to join the military and was in the process of joining the Washington National Guard at the time of his accident. Since then, he’s set his eyes on a new career path, Laura Belino said.

“He wants to be a paramedic and possibly a flight nurse,” Laura said. “Something in emergency services, continuing to help others.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Ephrata High School senior Ben Belino, left, is presented the EHS Challenge Coin by Athletic Director Bryan Johnson during an assembly on Dec. 8. Belino has a prosthetic that allows him to stand, walk and even run, but said he's found he has an affinity for wheelchair racing.
  

    Since the program began in 2019, the Ephrata High School Challenge Coin has been presented to 18 recipients. EHS senior Ben Belino received the challenge coin after his recovery from a car accident that led to the loss of his left leg, coming back and winning five state championships in track and field and cross country.
  

    Ephrata senior Ben Belino won five state championships in wheelchair racing in seven months, winning four in track and field and one in cross country.