There was a lot that Army veteran Alex Dillman lost when he became a paraplegic after an IED blew up under his legs in Afghanistan, but now an unlikely activity has allowed him to take some of what he lost back.

Hurtling through the air at 120 mph, Dillman doesn't need his wheelchair to skydive; he doesn't really need his legs either. In that unique state of concentration and freedom, he says he's "expected to perform," a do-or-die state of mind that he says he hasn't felt since his old life on deployment.

Profiled in Walter Allen‘s "Extraordinary Ordinary" segment on Fox 13 News, Tampa, the veteran needed years to develop a method of solo skydiving without the use of his legs.

"[In] some weird way… the universe has offered me this opportunity. I was capable of doing it on my own [sic] was all I needed, and it sent me on this wild trajectory," Dillman told Allen and Fox 13.

Dillman originally saw adventure therapy as a way to combat depression and PTSD he suffered from in the wake of his lost abilities, but he never imagined it would help him get some of those abilities back.

Now he's part of an adventure therapy non-profit called Skydive First Project, where he utilizes outdoor adventures to assist individuals suffering from PTSD and depression. Based in Tampa, activities encompass hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, horseback riding, scuba diving, and tandem skydiving.

"[The] great thing about skydiving is that it gets me out of the chair," said Dillman. "I don't bring my chair with me, so I'm in a free state. I don't need to be in the chair to perform the act of skydiving."

"I can feel my legs and my feet to a certain extent. I can get a better sense of my overall being, feel what my legs are doing, feel what my hips are doing. Having that feeling again… even if it's for 30 seconds or 60 seconds… is enough for me!"

WATCH Dillman freefall, and listen to his story on Extraordinary Ordinary… 

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