I became paralyzed and almost died doing an extreme sport. I don’t regret it

Can life ever be the same again after extreme setbacks or life-threatening situations? Insight explores this in the episode Will to Survive. Look further SBS on request.

I don’t remember much about waking up. I just remember being in pain. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the back with a rock.

From my eyes I could see someone touching my feet in different places.

“Can you feel this? Can you feel that?” they asked me.

I couldn’t feel anything.

This was the moment I realized I was paralyzed and would probably be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.

I had an accident while riding on a freestyle motocross track.

Mostly I jumped 17 meter holes, did tricks and took my legs off the bike. But that day I didn’t reach the distance for the first jump, according to my friends who were watching.

I hit the top of the landing deck and landed on my head with my legs in the air. My ass came back and hit my head, which was a complete scorpion.

My friends said they could hear the moment my back broke from 20 yards away.

I remember being unsure if I would survive the flight to the hospital when the paramedics took me there.

It was one of the first times in my life that I felt like I was completely out of control of something.

The doctors at the hospital discovered that I had broken several bones in my vertebrae (T-5, 6, and 7), fractured my skull and some ribs, and tore my spleen, as well as ligaments in my neck and shoulder.

They also confirmed that I was paralyzed from the chest down.

Knowing the risks

I had been riding motorcycles for four years (freestyle motocross for two and a half years) and I was almost paralyzed about a year earlier when another – less serious – accident pinched my spine.

When I told my dad I wanted to keep driving after my first accident, he asked, “What if you end up in a wheelchair?”

I was so confident in my response: “I don’t care. As long as I’m doing what makes me happy, I would rather regret being in a wheelchair than know I wasn’t pursuing my joy.”

So I have always been very aware of the risks of motocross – even before I became paralyzed.

‘What can I do?’

Healing is different for everyone, but I haven’t had the chance of the injury itself causing me to have a bad day.

Sure, I’ve had moments of sadness, but I always come back to a place of acceptance and knowing that I’m okay.

I had a moment when I came back from rehab (where I learned to adapt to life in a wheelchair) when I was really shocked by the physical changes in my body. I put on skinny jeans, which looked like sweatpants on me, because my legs had lost so much muscle mass.

I was reminded that I was now disabled and having a moment of sadness. I was engaged at the time and mourning the fact that I wouldn’t be able to walk down the aisle.

A habit I developed during rehab made things easier for me to digest. Every time I was overcome with negativity, I asked myself, “But what can you do?”

I may not be able to literally walk down the aisle, but I can drive myself down it and still get married. I can’t walk to the beach, but I can drive my customized Ford Ranger to Bribie Island.

I realized that there were and are so many things I can do. This meant that the snowball of negativity didn’t get too big.

Falling in love with sports again

Because I can’t use my abs, I can’t ride the dirt bike like I used to. But I can still drive a car with modifications.

On my birthday in 2020 I was invited to go drifting. Instead of trying to drive the car around the track as quickly as possible, use the angle, style and proximity to another car to get the most action for the spectators.

I finally found something that gave me the same amount of fun and adrenaline as riding a dirt bike. And from that day on, I completely fell in love with the sport.

I think I like it so much because I don’t feel like I’m at a physical disadvantage. Drifting is an accessible sport and I can enjoy it with my non-disabled friends.

A Bluetooth satellite hand control wraps around my hand and sends a message to the car remotely. My accelerator pedal is also Bluetooth and I have a brake pedal that is located directly under the steering wheel.

‘I’m having too much fun’

It’s been almost seven years since the accident and I feel like I’m finally back to the Christina I was before my disability and have more control over my life.

I didn’t end up married, but I have been with my new partner for three and a half years, and we are very much in love.

I’m also very involved in the drifting community, and it tickles that itch that motocross once scratched for me.

People sometimes ask me if I’m afraid of death, because I come into close contact with it.

I’m scared because I’m having too much fun.

I don’t like to think about dying, but when my time finally comes, at least I know I’ve done everything I wanted to do.

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