Resident Dan Rose may just become Painted Prairie’s first olympic athlete. As a member of the US National Wheelchair Curling Team, he is currently training in hopes to compete in the 2026 Winter Paralympics. His quest is the result of a passion for adaptive sports that helped Dan reconnect with his athletic sensibilities after a life-altering moment.

In 2011, while serving in his 10th year in the Army, Dan was severely injured in Afghanistan by an explosion that left him paralyzed from the chest down. The Biochemistry/Molecular Biology graduate from University of Wisconsin, Eau Clare, also an avid life-long athlete, was suddenly struggling with the loss of his identity, plus the reality of facing life with a very unfamiliar new “normal.” It was a tough time but determined and headstrong, he found a way to persevere.

Dan was introduced to adaptive sports during his rehab and learned new ways to activate his upper body to accomplish athletic feats. This complete shift of thinking was a game-changer. He was invited to attend an adaptive ski trip to Breckenridge and came to understand that it wasn’t that he could no longer BE an athlete, but he would just need to approach athletics in a different way. After that trip, he found a new passion in adaptive curling and pursued the sport with an unwavering commitment. In 2024, he was named to the US National Wheelchair Curling team.

Dan reflected on that first adaptive experience in Breckenridge, “Had I not taken that trip I probably would not have moved out of my parents house, met my wife and had my daughter, or traveled the world,” Dan said. “It was life-changing on so many levels.”

Dan shares his Painted Prairie home with his wife, Lisa, who is a teacher. They met in Wisconsin in 2013, moved to Denver three years later and married in 2019. They recently welcomed their first child, daughter Hailey. Their Boxer/Doberman Leila makes them a foursome. They love exploring the parks and playgrounds dotted throughout Painted Prairie, and have enjoyed getting to know other residents. Recently, a neighbor who’d seen Hailey toss a hat on the ground, spotted the family a month and a half later and returned it to them. How’s that for neighborly?