By Jashvina Shah, Special Writer
Robert Consulmagno has 17 gold medals in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He’s a purple belt with six silver medals, is ranked eighth in the world and can’t go a day without training.
But four years ago, Consulmagno was travelling around the country, running away from his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and looking for a better life.
”It’s a reality check. It humbles you but it also teaches you at the same time to respect life and to enjoy life,” Consulmagno said. “It’s like taking a land creature who can’t swim and throwing them in a tank filled with sharks. Jiu-jitsu is very effective and to me it takes commitment.”
Robert Consulmagno’s father, Michael, suffered from depression and hung himself in a psychiatric ward when Robert was a child. His mother spent the next 13 years with Consulmagno’s stepfather, who would beat his mother.
Then Consulmagno’s mother left his second stepfather for his third stepfather. But one morning, his second stepfather shot his third stepfather with a .22-caliber pistol. Consulmagno’s third stepfather survived, but his second stepfather drove to Moonachie, N.J., and shot himself.
Consulmagno’s mother had snuck the family out at 3 a.m. to a trailer park in upstate New York. Consulmagno was sitting in the back of the van, where there were no seats.
”At 9, I had a gun in my hand that he used to shoot my third stepfather,” Consulmagno said.
Consulmagno joined the Marine Corps to escape his life. But his PTSD flared while with the Marines, where Consulgano was hazed and found it difficult to get along with others.
’The Marine Corp kind of just amplified it,” Consulmagno said. “Kind of like the hulk. (Bruce) Banner has this hidden anger, mine was called post dramatic stress disorder and the Marine Corps in comparison brings it out.”
Eventually, Consulmagno was promoted and earned the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Mast Award twice and the letter of accommodation. He served in the Marine Corps from 1991 to 1996 and went to college afterward.
Consulmagno didn’t graduate, instead opting to join the sales workforce at 23 where he was in a spiral of being fired and hired from jobs for 11 years.
Finally, Consulmagno sold his belongings on Cragslist and went to Las Vegas.
That’s when the Disabled American Veterans called Consulmagno and told him he was 100 percent disabled because of his PTSD.
In 2011, Consulmagno found himself in Florida after his mother’s death. There, he was hospitalized for another outbreak. After his release, he wandered into a gym where he spent hours working out. Someone told Consulmagno he should try jiu-jitsu.
On April 18, 2011, Consulmagno walked into Mario Cruz’s gym to start learning. He never looked back.
Now, Consulmagno trains at Princeton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a school affiliated with the Marcelo Garcia Academy. He trains under Emily Kwok, Art Keintz and Valerie Worthington.
”The people I train with six days a week, they have an understanding and they actually look up to me and it’s great,” Consulmagno said. “I have young kids trying to follow my lead. It’s really inspiring because I’m taking an issue and using it to focus and help other people and that’s my main goal.
”I don’t want money, I don’t want anything like that.”
Consulmagno uses jiu-jitsu as a way to spread the word of how helpful it can be in controlling mental illnesses.
”The beauty of the training and the exercise is that it can release those endorphins for me and just put me at ease,” Consulmagno said. “I train so hard when I go home that I can’t go up the stairs. And I compete because I have direction.”
Others have reached out to Consulmagno via Facebook and email, sharing their personal stories with mental health and other struggles. Chad Robichaux another former Marine, contacted Consulmagno. Robichaux founded the Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, dedicating to aiding those suffering from PTSD.
”I just want to be a role model for these people to come out and maybe even tell their stories,” Consulmagno said.
