Former Hillsborough firefighter reignites passion for golf 

BLOOMINGDALE, Fla. - On her home golf course in Bloomingdale, Patti Valero is far removed from the night her life changed forever. It was 2009 and Valero was riding on her motorcycle when she was hit by a wrong-way drunk driver. 

Though she doesn't remember how it happened, Valero does remember waking up days later in a hospital. Her left leg had been amputated at the knee. 

The accident nearly cost Valero her life and her job as a Hillsborough County firefighter, but she didn't let it overwhelm her.

"I was a bowler who was going to turn professional," Valero said. "Your weight leg, if you're right-handed, is your left foot."

Unable to bowl, Valero picked up a set of golf clubs and began to take swing after swing. 

"Golf gave me back what I lost," she said. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

"I didn't turn pro, I've just won a lot of things," joked Valero. 

But Valero's success is no joke. She's won a dozen adaptive golf tournaments since first picking up a set of clubs in 2017. Now, Valero plays in fewer competitive tournaments. She says her gift of golf could be used for a better purpose. 

"The more I won, the worse I felt," Valero said. "I felt like I totally got away from why this happened to me." 

Valero turned her attention to helping others play. 

"I think that's what we're put on this earth for, to help each other. And I think that's kind of what we're getting away from," she said. "My path was to give someone light that thinks their light is about to go out."

Valero is also focused on telling her own story, hoping to encourage others to pick up a set of clubs or follow their own dreams. She wants her story not to serve as any sort of cautionary tale, but a story of inspiration. 

"It's not about the great big shots," says Valero. "It's about the great little shots that you string together."