Sport was my rehab
DJ, 51
For the two and half years following my accident I experienced so many confusing emotions, I was frustrated, I was angry, I was lost, I didn’t know where to go. It was a very dark time for me. It was my mum and her belief in me that kept me going. My light bulb moment then finally came when I thought about the sports person I was before my accident and considered how I could play sport again in a wheelchair. This is where it all changed for me.
I figured out it’s all about the way you think. Positive thoughts mean positive action. I was young and had a lot of life left in me so why not make the best of it and enjoy what my ‘new’ life has to offer.
I started playing wheelchair sports and the journey wheelchair sports took me on was the most powerful rehab I could have ever had. I surrounded myself with people with disabilities and hearing all their stories was exactly what I needed to move forward with my life.
It has now been 31 years since my accident and I love my life. I have traveled the world playing sport for 11 years straight, I am happily married with four beautiful children, I have a fulfilling full-time job…life is good!