Broken Body NOT Broken Person

    This week in my Neuro Aspects class we have started talking about spinal cord injuries. To get a better understanding of the impact of spinal cord injuries I watched a TED Talk called A Broken Body Isn't A Broken Person. Janine Shepherd talks about how she was a former olympic cross country skier to someone with a spinal cord injury who had to figure out who she was again. I was intrigued by the title of this article because I wanted to know how does someone with this serious of an injury figure out how to not see themselves as broken. 

    Janine was on a training bike ride with her teammates in the Blue Mountains when a speeding utility truck struck Janie head on. We learned in class that motor vehicle accidents are a common way individuals sustain a spinal cord injury. Janie experienced many extensive and life-threatening injuries. At the hospital Janine was told that she was paralyzed from the waist down. Her L1 vertebrae was crushed and the doctors had to go in and remove as many broken bone fragments from the spinal cord as possible to help save her paralysis. The doctors got as much of it as they could out and fused T10, L1, and L2 together. She was in the hospital for six months before she came home. Once she got home she became depressed because her life before this injury was an elite athlete, and now she has to find a new identity starting from the ground up. She realized that now that her life isn't on a set path, she can figure out what her new identity could be. 

    One day Janine was sitting outside with her mom and saw an airplane fly by. She thought to herself "if I can't walk, then I might as well fly". She then decided right there in that moment that she was going to become a pilot! When she went to the flying center it was a joke seeing a person in a full cast barely able to walk to say that she wanted to become a pilot. An instructor named Andrew gladly took her on the plane and Janine said that when the plane was in the air, that was the first time since her injury that she felt freedom. When she got home that day from her flying lesson she put her mind to work and started training to be able to pass her medical flying test. She started practicing walking around the house with the help of two people to then being able to walk slowly around the house with her fingertips touching the wall to keep her steady. Once she passed her medical test it was as if she truly went airborne with a new passion and desire. After 18 months from being in the hospital she was flying planes and teaching other people to fly. She says, "But then I knew for certain that although my body might be limited, it was my spirit that was unstoppable". 

    I think this article is important because as an OT it is important for me to learn how to be realistic with clients. It is important that I learn about this injury and that life can be normal after a serious injury. I also think it is important that we focus on being client-centered with clients who have SCI injuries because we can figure out what means the most to them and then make a goal to get our clients in the right direction. 

Shepherd, J. A broken body isn't a broken person | Ted Talk. Retrieved August 6, 2023 from, https://www.ted.com/talks/janine_shepherd_a_broken_body_isn_t_a_broken_person/transcript