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The national military nonprofit Freedom Alliance held a ceremony at the Alamo on Thursday to honor Dana Cisneros, a San Antonio veteran. She was presented with a special all-terrain wheelchair.
Cisneros, who served 17 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, began her military career as an intelligence analyst in 2006. She deployed five times, which included three combat tours in Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan from 2008-2009. She later supported national security efforts with the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF).
Cisneros’ last deployment was in 2017 and, following that deployment, she was assigned to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) at Indian Head, Maryland, for three years. During her time there, Cisneros sustained a non-combat related foot injury that required a below-the-knee amputation.
Tom Kilgannon, president of Freedom Alliance, learned of Cisneros through one of the organization's programs.
“She has the service record that is impeccable,” he said, “and we wanted to be able to help her out. It's not just a gift; it's something that will help her to continue to rehabilitate and to improve her status and the emotional injuries and the physical impairments that she suffers from.”
Cisneros’ injury, amputation, and painful rehabilitation disabled her physically and mentally.
On Thursday, I spoke with San Antonio retired veteran, U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Dana Cisneros,who was recently honored with an all-terrain wheelchair at the Alamo in San Antonio for her services by the non-profit that assists veterans, Freedom Alliance.
— Jackie Velez - Texas Public Radio (@jvelezsa.bsky.social) 2025-02-28T19:40:55.463Z
“I had multiple surgeries,” Cisneros said. “I had every type of rehabilitation therapy you can think of, physical therapy, all kinds of things. I even got a spinal cord stimulator implanted in my back. They were hoping that would help. But when you go from being completely ambulatory and doing day-to-day [activities] and everything to not being able to use your leg—it's there, but you can't use it—is just something that really highly impacts your mental health.”
An all-terrain wheelchair is unlike a manual or power wheelchair. It looks almost like a power wheelchair except it’s bigger and more powerful. It has treads that resemble tank wheels.
Cisneros relies on a prosthetic foot. She said it still limits every day activities that others might take for granted. But now she can rethink those activities with her new all-terrain wheelchair.
“Today's trash day. We have a really, really long driveway that is gravel, and me and this thing are gonna take out the trash cans together,” she said.
Cisneros medically retired in 2023 and currently works in security management as a civilian for the U.S. Army.
