Although Rick Hansen, Canada’s Man in Motion, has made countless trips to Williams Lake, British Columbia, throughout the years, this one will be particularly significant.
Hansen will take part in the Williams Lake Stampede Parade this week. Still, more significantly, he will be driving on the same road he did 50 years ago for the first time since the accident that would forever alter his life.
Worldwide Man in Motion Tour
His coaches urged him to participate in physical activity after the injury since he had participated in several sports.
After completing high school, Hansen enrolled at the University of British Columbia in 1976, earning a degree in physical education, becoming the first person with impairments to do so.
Hansen started developing a reputation as an athlete three years later. He succeeded in wheelchair marathons from 1979 through 1984, winning 15 medals overall, including six at the Paralympic Games and nine at the Pan-American Games.
Hansen became well-known, nevertheless, because of his Man in Motion World Tour. He travelled 40,000 kilometres in 34 nations over more than two years, bringing attention to those who have disabilities and promoting the development of more open and welcoming cultures.
What happened to Rick Hansen?
Rick Hansen and his friend Don Alder had a huge accident, both 15 at the time, hacking a ride on the back of a pickup truck in an attempt to make it to the Williams Lake Stampede in the interior city of British Columbia.
Hansen and Alder were ejected from the car after the driver lost control and hit a tree. Alder escaped the incident, but Hansen was not so lucky.
On CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops, host Shelley Joyce interviewed Hansen, now 65, about that terrible day. Rick said that the incident damaged his spinal cord and the doctors said he won’t be able to walk again.
Nevertheless, with the help of his loved ones, friends, and coaches, Hansen would come out of this trying time in his life even stronger.
Mental state after his tour
“Never in a million years would I give up my legs for my life,” were his words. To fund studies on spinal cord injuries, Hansen founded the Man in Motion World Tour Society in 1988, later renamed the Rick Hansen Foundation.
Hansen expresses his happiness at the good shifts in perceptions of accessibility and people with disabilities over time. He claims to have noticed a change in attitude from negativity and pity to positivity and support.
Supportive friend
Alder, who travelled with Hansen for two years, just recorded a song called Won’t Be Home that was motivated by Hansen’s once-in-a-lifetime voyage.
He said on CBC’s North by Northwest that te song was left unattended for long but when he listened to it again it brought up many emotions.
