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25 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Fall down, get up, walk farther Told he would never walk again, a simple belief has helped Tyler Mosher overcome a horrific accident to represent his country in Vancouver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The fundraiser had just wrapped up and now it was time to hit the slopes. While the other participants grabbed their snowboards and headed for the hill, Tyler Mosher was left behind. Mosher couldn't hide his disappointment and when asked about his sudden change in mood, he said, "It's upsetting seeing everyone going out there," he said. "Why don't we go get you a snowboard?" he was asked. Mosher could not think of one good reason why he shouldn't. Returning with a snowboard, Mosher walked 40 metres up the hill - a difficult challenge in itself. He stood up on the board, and then fell over. He tried again. And fell. Eventually, he kept his balance and began sliding down the hill. Back on the board It was Mosher's first time on a snowboard in three years. The first time since December 30, 2000 when he was snowboarding on Blackcomb Glacier in British Columbia and decided to take a different route than his friends. As he cut through the fresh powder, he spotted a snowdrift. He hit it and launched into the air. Once airborne, Mosher realized he was in trouble. On the other side of the drift, was a deep hole. Flipped upside down, Mosher fell 30 feet. He landed on his head, which thankfully was protected by his helmet. The rest of his body didn't fare so well. As his body jolted to a stop, his spine crumpled like the boxcars of a train whose engine suddenly slams to a halt. As Mosher described the accident to a group of students from Appleby College, the chapel in which they had gathered went silent. "Ten metres (I fell), landing on my head," he said, his voice echoing through the rafters. "I broke my back in nine places. My L-1 vertebrae totally exploded. There was (bone) shrapnel against my lungs." A ski patrol doctor was on the scene within 20 minutes to inject him with steroids to stop the swelling and within another 20 minutes he was being lifted off the mountain by helicopter. At the hospital, Mosher knew things were bad when he saw doctors and nurses crying. He asked the surgeon anyway. "It's not so good," he was told. "We're going to try to put you back together so live in a wheelchair comfortably." Word of the accident filtered back to Appleby College. Don Stewart, who had coached Mosher on the school's football and rugby, worried about his former student. "Obviously we were concerned for him," he said. "And knowing what an active and sporting type of guy he is, we knew it would be devastating for him." Doctors used part of his hip and titanium parallel bars. It was exhausting, though, and when he was told while he may eventually be able to manage a few steps unassisted, he wouldn't have the stamina to walk any distance of consequence. Hospital staff insisted that he learn to use a wheelchair. With his progress being dismissed, Mosher became depressed and he briefly began thinking maybe he was wrong. A friend encouraged him to continue fight. "You can learn how to use a wheelchair at any point in your life," she said. "You have to learn to walk. You put that wheelchair in the corner and get up fall down until you don't fall down any more." Three months after his accident, Mosher walked out of the hospital using two canes. He walked that way for the next year. Paralympics goal Not quite three years after his accident, Vancouver was awarded the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Whister, where Mosher now lives, would play host to many of the events and he began thinking about competing. He had begun cross country skiing, as much out of necessity - it was difficult to walk in snow - as anything else. He called the coach of the Canadian team and asked what he needed to do. "Ski 850 kilometres and get back to me," he was told. So that's what Mosher did. He then set his final target, the Paralympics in 2010 and set goals for each year. With the Paralympic less than four months away, Mosher is ranked 26th in the world. He knows his chances of winning a medal may be slim, but he already has his next goal set for 2014. Snowboarding in 2014 Mosher is a leading a charge for adaptive snowboarding to be part of the next Paralympics. In part due to his efforts, the World Snowboard Federation held the first adaptive snowboard World Cup in 2008. Mosher won and he now holds the No. 1 ranking in the sport. The World Cup was the first step. There are many more steps, many more obstacles ahead but Mosher is ready for them. "That's what my life has been about since that day -- falling down, getting up and walking farther the next time I get up." Considering how far he has already come, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Mosher on a medal podium in four years' time. BACK ON BOARD: Tyler Mosher will represent Canada in crosscountry skiing at the Paralympics but he's already looking ahead to 2014, where he's hoping to have snowboarding added to the Games. ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER rods to rebuild his spine. Mosher wasn't about to accept the fate the doctors laid out, though. "There's really no way to conceptualize being paralyzed," Mosher said. "It still hasn't sunk in." And if you were to see Mosher, you might have trouble with it as well. He paces left and right as he tells his story to the students. He crouches down, with his arms spread into a T as he mimics riding a snowboard. Yet, he has no use of 40 per cent of his muscles below his waist. It is only his ability to adapt, his dedication to his physiotherapy and his refusal to give up that has brought him to this point. When he was told he wouldn't walk after his surgery, Mosher began working on propelling himself forward with the assistance of Discover the Difference... The Oakville Golf Club is now offering a limited number of Social and Winter Social Memberships for those wishing to discover the private club difference. For more information on our new Social Membership Opportunities please contact Sharon Fraser @ 905.845.8321 ext. 32 or sharonf@oakvillegolfclub.com