Walking is Overrated: Witnessing the World from Two Perspectives

A normal life. Something I never thought I would have again after the events of January 17, 1987. The moment my head hit the boards playing hockey, my life was anything but normal.

"Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?"

It has not been easy, but now decades later, I look at my life through different eyes than that eighteen-year-old. Living with a spinal cord injury, so much has been taken from me, but it is what I've been given that has defined my life. The opportunity to experience the world from two completely different perspectives is something very few people have. Ironically, this opportunity was the result of the most horrible moment in my life.

There are two things that I have learned over the past thirty-five years in a wheelchair. The first is what it means to have control of your life, especially when you have zero control of your own body. The second is that every human being has the choice to either let time pass them by or find their way through challenging circumstances. My story is about how I went from, "Why me?" to the way I feel today, "Walking is overrated."