Surrounded by verdant crops, many people drive through Ephrata on their way to somewhere else.
It’s a small-town in the heart of central Washington state and home to Ben Belino, a 2024 Ephrata High School graduate, who lost his leg as a result of a head-on car crash.
At a recent track meet at Ephrata High School vs. Ellensburg, Ben, 18, warms up and practices his starts. It’s a cacophony of sound: Whistles, yells, a starting gun,and parents yelling, “You go Ben, you got it, good job!”
“The first 10-15 pushes, get going, get going, get going,” Ben explained of the silent chant he says while he races. “Then, once I get going, it’s like you got to keep going. That’s where I really focus on form for the rest of the race.”
Those that know him well said Ben’s always been determined, maybe a bit stubborn and a serious sort, with a few jokes tucked in. Consider: his favorite school subject was precalculus. That built-in grit and determination might have helped him get through this last year.
10.10.22
On Oct. 10, 2022, Ben was coming home from fire fighting training. A driver crossed the center line on Highway 28, hitting Ben’s car head on.
Earlier that same day, his old cross country coach Frank Moore said Ben had maybe one of the best runs of his entire life.
“‘Let’s go coach,’” Moore remembers. “He crushed that mile coming back, after already crushing a long workout of running gravel road.”
That night, the coaches knew they had a top runner in Ben for the varsity team.
“There’s our guy,” Moore said. “There’s our No. 5 for the varsity team. Top 5 score, this is it, awesome!”
“Then you got the phone call.”
Later that night …
The same paramedics and people who know Ben, responded to the call just about a mile away from Grant County Fire District 3, Station 31.
Ben broke nine bones, including a shattered femur and skull fracture but didn’t lose his left leg that night. Months later an infection in his left leg worsened, so Ben had to make the difficult choice to amputate above the knee.
Nevertheless, he took on challenges one after another: Getting up by himself, walking a bit in his new prosthetic leg, going back to school after about two months.
“You got to have some bad in order to be able to see the good,” Ben said. “That’s kind of the way I see the car accident. Yah, it was a really bad case, I lost the ability to run, I almost died because of someone’s poor decisions. I thought my life is over. There will always be bad, but there’s always good too.”
Moore said it’s wonderful Ben is still here, doing so well and able to race and graduate.
“They cut him out of a car, pieced him back together, and kept him alive ‘til they could get to a hospital,” Moore said.
Ben’s Catholic faith, coaches, friends, and family helped him through, Moore said, along with Ben’s gritty determination.
Just a year and a couple of months after the crash, Ben competed at state in wheelchair racing. He’s got the mile down to 4:43:77 at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association State Championships recently. That’s faster than he ran it with both his legs.
“Honestly, what I enjoy is the feeling of competing again,” Ben said. “One of my favorite things was always getting faster and faster every time I was training.”
Of flats and joy
Ben’s largest nemesis on the track? The dreaded goatheads. For those of you not familiar – that’s an unpopular weed east of the Cascades. It throws off spiky balls that sometimes pop Ben’s wheelchair tires mid-race. Then, Ben’s wheelchair crew has to get to work.
Still, there’s joy on the track too. The spring sun, the cheering of the moms and grandmas, and Ben’s lone wheelchair whistling around the track. Now that he’s using his arms more than his legs, he’s got some guns.
“Yeah, I don’t like to boast about them, but I’ve gotten a few compliments I guess,” Ben said, chuckling.
Rollin’ into the future
Ben is now set to become a wheelchair basketball player for Eastern Washington University. He also hopes to keep racing in intramural track in Spokane.
“I don’t see myself as I’m missing a leg,” Ben said. “That's not how I look at myself.”
He wants people to see him as a person.
“Oh, yeah I have a missing leg,” Ben said, “but that’s not what I’m known for.”
Ben wanted to serve in the military in the Special Forces before his accident. Now, he dreams of becoming a firefighter, like his mom, Laura Belino. For Ben to become a firefighter, he needs a special, more-robust, prosthetic leg.
Saturday his fire district and the community members of Quincy are throwing a pancake feed to help raise the funds.
For his part, Ben said he appreciates life more now – even his pesky little sisters, for whom he has this advice:
“Do everything as if the next day’s not going to happen.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: Race Mears, a reporter for Ephrata High School’s Tiger Vision Media, contributed to this report with field recordings and photos.
