Photo Provided From the right, U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. David Mace and his wife, Zulma, and their twins, David and Miabella. Mace, who was severely injured in a mountain bike accident in 2012, recently achieved certifications from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. He is the son of David and Cathy Mace of Parkersburg.

PARKERSBURG — A local airman who overcame severe injuries in an accident has achieved certifications by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. David A. Mace, who is stationed at the Aviano Air Base in Northern Italy, received the Associate Safety Professional certification in February and became a Certified Safety Professional in March. The certifications came while he was stationed in Niger where he had to construct the Pearson VUE testing center to take the certification exams.

Mace was the first airman to attain professional credentialing in West Africa.

He overcame numerous obstacles, including a traumatic brain injury, in his path toward certification.

Mace when he was 29 was injured in a mountain biking accident June 24, 2012, in Italy. He took a turn too fast and fell off a mountain trail, breaking his sternum, lacerating the upper quarter of his heart, dissected his aorta, caused a traumatic brain and spinal cord injury that him paralyzed, breaking both elbows and a wrist and all the ribs on his left side that punctured his lungs, liver and kidneys.

“I was dead for a little while,” Mace said.

But he persevered and while the process of recovery continues, in 2015 as a non-commissioned officer in charge of occupational safety, he began a program for a bachelor’s degree in occupational safety and health at Columbia Southern University.

Mace has four degrees: an associate’s and a bachelor’s in occupational safety and health; an associate’s in aerospace ground equipment; and an associate’s in safety.

He completed his bachelor’s in 2017 when he enrolled in the master’s program in organizational leadership through Columbia Southern. He was then deployed to Africa to oversee the safety programs for four installations there, Mace said.

The remote location, coupled with the remaining effects of the brain injury, presented challenges in obtaining the certifications. He committed to spending two hours of study for every 1 percent of the test score he wanted, about 200 hours.

The certifications prepared him for his current assignment as organizational safety manager at Aviano.

Mace graduated in 2001 from the Heritage Christian Academy in Torch, Ohio. He enlisted in the Air Force in June 2001.

He is the son of David and Cathy Mace of Parkersburg.

Mace and his wife, Zulma, have five children ranging in age of 21 years to 8-year-old twins.

His mother, Cathy, is extremely proud of her son and his accomplishments, both scholastically and militarily. She also remains grateful to those who helped her son while he was in the hospital, such as the performers of a concert held in his behalf in September 2012.

“We owe them a debt of gratitude,” she said.