My name is Victoria Correa
I'm a Custom and Border Protection Officer out of
JFK International Airport.
I'm also a dragon boater.
Originally I got into it.
My mother who is a breast cancer survivor
was diagnosed with cancer around the same time
that I was in a really bad motorcycle accident.
I just got out of Iraq, broke my pelvis. I was in a wheelchair for about a year
and I had to have reconstructive surgery.
Everything had basically just gone wrong in my life.
My mother ended up coming into dragon boating
as a form of therapy.
After seeing the type of people that she was with
and how they managed to make it out into the water
even after radiation therapy
was something that motivated me so much
that I ended up joining my own team
and training for a few years.
A lot of people who know me personally know
that I started out because of my mother.
She started it because of rehabilitation and also
for the sisterhood that it causes.
At JFK I do just about everything
that I can pretty much get my hands on.
Which is inspections of primary, secondary baggage.
Hard secondary cases. Soft secondary cases.
I try to be as flexible as possible
and as adaptable
to whatever situation I can be,
because, I want to learn as much as I can
and I want to be able to be used
wherever it's humanly possible within my line of work.
Bring it in.
Next race in about an hour.
One, two, three UNITED!
I love doing what I do.
I really love dragon boating.
I think I love it as much as I do
because, I am inspired by my mom and her team.
Which for me is my second group of moms.
They come in after radiation treatments.
They come in after being told
that they have a deadline in regards to their cancer.
And their ages are at a point where most people feel
like you don't have anything left to do,
but sit down watch TV.
They do more than than most people
my own age 20's 30's 40's.
And for me that's the biggest inspiration as to
why I started doing what I did
and what pushes me
when I do the type of work that I do.
I have no excuse, because I see my constant role models
doing what people say is impossible.