Early Years
Aluki Chupik-Hall
Six-year-old Aluki Chupik-Hall has severe scoliosis, an often-painful condition that requires her to wear a back brace for up to 23 hours a day and, when she is older, possibly having to undergo surgery to fuse her spine.
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Rick Hansen is best known for completing an epic journey called the Man In Motion World Tour in 1987. But Rick wasn’t always the “Man in Motion,” and the Tour wasn’t his first difficult journey.
Born August 26, 1957 in Port Alberni, BC, Rick spent an active, but not untypical, childhood fishing, camping and playing ball: “If you could throw it, hit it, bounce it, chase it or run with it, I wanted to play it.” A natural athlete and a fierce competitor, he won all-star awards in five sports in high school. His first “big dream” was to represent Canada at the Olympics.
And then, at age 15, Rick and his best friend Don Alder made a fateful decision to hitchhike home after a weeklong fishing trip. They accepted the first ride that was offered, in the bed of a pickup truck. Sometime later, the truck skidded off a winding road and the boys were thrown out. Don walked away with a few cuts and bruises; Rick would never walk again.
But a shattered spine is not a shattered spirit. After seven months in recovery and rehab in Vancouver, Rick returned to his parents’ home in Williams Lake determined to lead a rich, full life, and to make his life matter. He found ways to continue fishing and stay involved in sports. He didn’t know then that Olympic medals lay in his future, or that he’d spark a sea of change in public attitudes toward people with disabilities. He just knew he was ready to make the most of every opportunity that came his way, and to create opportunities, for himself and others, wherever he saw a need.
In 1976, Rick enrolled in the University of British Columbia and became the first person with a disability to graduate with a Degree in Physical Education. He discovered wheelchair sports in his student years and quickly began amassing what would become a very long list of athletic achievements.
It was at university that Rick met another future Canadian hero, Terry Fox. Rick invited Terry to play wheelchair basketball while Terry was still undergoing chemotherapy. The two became close friends through training, competing, traveling and dreaming together. Terry shared Rick’s passion for sports as well as his commitment to making a difference.
Years later, when Rick departed on the Tour, the Fox family would give him small statue of Terry. It was the only item that Rick kept with him for inspiration throughout the whole journey and today remains proudly displayed in Rick’s office.
