AFTER losing his leg during a police operation just over a year ago, Constable Antoine Francis was introduced to archery — a sport that he says transformed his outlook on life and became his sanctuary.

Doctors, in an attempt to save his life, amputated his right leg at the knee after he was injured on duty. At the time, he was a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF’s) Quick Response Team.

“I was thinking, what am I going to do? I had never broken a foot before, and I had never broken a limb or anything. I was just feeling hopeless and feeling that I wouldn’t be able to be the same person that I was before. I was also thinking about how I would adjust to this new thing that I could not control,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“At one point, I was saying, ‘Yes, I can do this,’ and the next second I would be thinking, ‘No, I can’t do this,’ and just questioning what am I going to do?” Francis recounted.

He shared that he faced some of his lowest lows in his hospital bed, grappling with the reality that he now needed assistance to do simple things like going to the bathroom.

“It put me in such deep depression that night that the nurse had to talk to me and say, ‘Don’t worry about it, man. Everything is gonna be alright.’ That night the realisation of it was the worst part,” he said.

Luckily, the policeman had a strong support system, and family and friends from the JCF rallied around him. However, Francis said he still struggled to cope with his new reality as an amputee.

For months, he faced an internal battle — often wanting to give up but holding on to be there for his son.

Then, in March, there was a glimmer of hope. District Constable Sean Pierre, a member of the Jamaica Rifle Association, told Francis about archery.

“When he introduced me to it, I didn’t think much of it. I just said, ‘Well, nothing can go wrong because it has already gone wrong, so why not try it.’ I was hoping to take my mind off the pain… so I said nothing beats trying,” recalled Francis.

This new hobby, he said, helped to change his perspective on life and allowed him to feel a sense of peace and calmness that he had craved.

“At the time when I’m moving the arrow, or when I’m positioning myself to find that target space, I actually feel relieved to think that I can actually do something beyond my physical [incapacity]. It gives me a sense of calm because I have to calm myself, forget whatever I was thinking about, and just have complete focus,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“It keeps me grounded,” added Francis.

“Even if I don’t get the desired reaction or desired aim that I would want, it’s about me forgetting it and saying, ‘Hey, that has already passed, moving on to the next thing.’ That feeling opens up my eyes to say, ‘If I can feel this way about archery, why can’t I feel the same way about losing my limb?’“ he reasoned.

Now a member of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch of the JCF — a role that is not as physically demanding — Francis said archery takes him back to his time as a quick response officer.

“It is a lot more similar, in terms of holding the bow and holding a firearm, using breathing techniques, using your sight, how you position yourself,” he explained.

After months of honing his skills in the sport and curious to see how well he would perform, Francis decided to enter an archery competition. For two to three days a week, he used his spare time to train and develop his skills.

By September, he was ready to showcase his hard work at the Caribbean Development Championship held at Plantation Cove in St Ann. The event, from September 19 to 22, attracted participants from various countries, including Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados.

“It felt pretty scary because everybody is looking at you and everybody there can walk around, but I was there on crutches. It felt like I was on display for everybody to see, but it also taught me that…most people aren’t really looking at you for that reason, they are just really looking to see you do your best,” said Francis.

“Once everyone started to greet me and I spoke to everybody, it was like something had not happened to me. It was like I was normal to them. After a while, it didn’t feel like I was different from them,” he shared.

By the end of the competition, the policeman had secured two bronze medals — one for the doubles competition and another for the singles compound.

“I was glad because I just went to have fun, not thinking of getting any medals. Seeing so many persons who were, in my estimation, way more advanced than I was and to see that I got two bronze medals, for me it was like I won gold. I was very glad that I was able to reach a point where I could get a medal,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Though he still struggles to accept his current reality, the constable said he’s learnt many lessons since his life-changing incident — the biggest being that no matter what happens, we can always choose to find the good in a bad situation.

“I learnt that slowing down does not mean that you are stopping, and I learnt that by sitting down and actually getting to know myself better as a person. When you have nowhere to go and nothing to do, the only thing you can do is revisit yourself, your life choices, what you want to do, and so it taught me a lot,” the policeman said..

In a message to others facing similar situations, he urged them to think more about the things they can do instead of what they can’t.

“Don’t try to look at what you couldn’t do or that you [are] not having this particular limb or injury prevents you from doing. Find out what it is that you can do, and you will be surprised to find out how great you can be despite what you lost,” said Francis.