Just a couple of weeks ago, Cyndy McLean marked the fifth anniversary of the incident that changed her life.
The Thornhill native did so by winning a match in an international wheelchair tennis competition in Italy.
In the time between the June 13, 2003 incident and today, Ms McLean, now a Guelph resident, has not only adapted to a life in which she can no longer walk, but has thrived in her career, community and sports life.
She was contacted while still in hospital about helping organize the Guelph Wheels in Motion. Ironically, it coincided closely with the first anniversary of the accident that left her paralyzed.
She is an organizer for the Rick Hansen Foundation’s Wheels in Motion, an annual event raising money for services and programs for people with spinal cord injuries. She’s also an ambassador for the foundation.
Ms McLean has been involved with the event each year since, except this year, due to the tennis event in Italy. Still, she said she helped organize it.
The decision to go to Italy was a difficult one due to Wheels in Motion, but tennis has become a passion.
“Funny enough,” Ms McLean said, “when I was on my trip prior to my injury... I was going to come home and take tennis lessons.”
Ms McLean, who used to be a marathon runner before her accident, said two years after her accident she felt a desire to become more active, so she contacted a friend who played wheelchair tennis. She said she started to play once a week, but admitted “at first it was the most frustrating thing in the entire world.”
But Ms McLean, who is now a member of the provincial wheelchair tennis team, worked through it to reach the international level of competition.
The Invacare World Team Cup 2008 was held in Cremona, Italy. Ms McLean said the equivalent in regular tennis would be the Davis Cup.
In January, Ms McLean was also targeted by the national wheelchair tennis team, meaning they have her listed as a player with potential.
The injury caused her to re-evaluate her life, eventually bringing her to the realization “the fact you don’t walk is not the end of the world,” she said.
In spring 2003, Ms McLean, then 33, was in the middle of a month-long cross-continent trip with only her dog at her side. The pair travelled to California, then to Vancouver, then across Canada.
With two days left on their trip, Ms McLean’s father joined the pair for a hike in northern Michigan.
She said she can’t remember what happened next and her father didn’t witness it, but both she and her dog slipped off a ridge, falling about 80 feet.
Among other injuries, the fall caused spinal cord damage. As a result, she is paralyzed from the waist down.
“My injuries were absolutely catastrophic,” Ms McLean said. “But there were a number of things that could have happened that didn’t.”
Her injuries meant, after two surgeries, several stays in hospital and several months in a rehabilitation facility. And so, Ms McLean started a new chapter in her life.
At the rehab facility, Ms McLean came to realize, though she admits it seems strange to say it, that being 33 at the time of her injury was a blessing, she said.
She pointed out about three-quarters of spinal cord injury victims are young males from pages 18 to 30.
“Many of them hadn’t lived long enough to have coping skills,” Ms McLean said, adding she accepted her injury and began to plan what came next. She was lucky her job was not affected, despite her being in a wheelchair.
Ms McLean is the director of the health and performance centre at the University of Guelph.
The centre provides lifestyle and health support for the university’s students and staff, as well as the community.
Ms McLean was one of the motivating people in the centre’s creation, said Brenda Whiteside, the university’s vice-president of student affairs.
She added she knows people are inspired by Ms McLean, saying if she can do what she does, they too can reach their goals.
“She provides a strong role model that a disability doesn’t have to be a barrier,” Ms Whiteside said.
Ms McLean said she made a decision after her injury to retain as much of her old life as possible.
“The idea of sitting in a hospital or sitting at home was, to me, not even a possibility,” Ms McLean said.
She said someone once asked Rick Hansen if he would trade in all the good things that had come his way post-injury for the chance to walk again. He said he wouldn’t.
“I think I’m reaching that point,” Ms McLean said.