Paralympic athlete far from disabled

Brian McPherson leaves his wheelchair and enters the pilot seat of his adaptive bobsled

Eighteen years ago, Brian McPherson lost the use of his legs, but he remains one of the most able bodied athletes you'll ever meet.

McPherson travels in a wheelchair and, for short periods of time at high speeds, in an adaptive bobsled.

A snowmobile accident in 1995 left McPherson a paraplegic.

“When I first got paralyzed I figured my life was over, I thought I wouldn't be able to do anything the rest of my life,” says McPherson.  “Before I got paralyzed I played baseball and was scouted the year I got paralyzed.”

Down and out, McPherson ended up living on the streets until he was reintroduced to competitive sports by someone in a similar situation.

“I think the biggest turning point in my life was sports,” says McPherson.  “I met a gentleman who asked me to be a part of wheelchair basketball.  I started playing and meeting other guys with similar disabilities and through them I realized that my life wasn’t over.”

Wheelchair basketball was only the start of McPherson’s return to physical activity.  Mountain climbing, sledge hockey, and adaptive bobsleigh, all served to prove that McPherson was nothing short of able.

McPherson is amazed by the talent level of his fellow bobsleigh competitors.

“All the athletes here are more able than not.  It's mind blowing what these guys do.”

Brian McPherson is no slouch when it comes to bobsled as he’s currently one of the top athletes in the sport, which is vying to be included in the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

“The more people watch guys like myself doing things, they realize we are not really that disabled we just do thing in a different fashion.”

The organization has applied to the international body governing bobsleigh, luge and skeleton for Paralympic Games recognition.  The biggest hurdle facing adaptive bobsleigh is that athletes from at least seven countries must compete, and at least two international competitions must be held before the Sochi games.

Adaptive bobsleigh is very similar to regular bobsleigh except the sleds include a roll bar and paraplegic athletes pilot while able bodies athletes push the sleighs at the top of the track.

The speeds they reach rival those of their Olympic counterparts.

McPherson’s bobsled partner says the Paralympic athletes are an inspiration.

“You start to realize that they are more capable than most people who have all their functioning body parts,” says James Mills, an adaptive bobsleigh pusher.  “They don't let it affect their day to day lives and I think that's probably the most inspiring part.”

For proving that people with limited mobility still have unlimited potential, Brian McPherson is this week’s Inspiring Albertan.

With files from Darrel Janz