B.C. man putting spinal cord injury on the map with World Run

Creating awareness, one step at a time Imagine being told you'll never walk again. Those are the exact words two B.C. men heard after suffering spinal cord injuries. Christina Heydanus reports on how they both overcame adversity.

Running for those who can’t is what will be on Mike Shaw’s mind this weekend when he and a team of fellow spinal cord injury survivors take part in the Wing for Life World Run.

It’s one step at a time for Shaw – a former competitive skier – who broke his neck while performing a routine trick in 2013.

“I couldn’t get up or feel anything. I was stuck,” Shaw told CTV News Vancouver. “When ski patrol came I heard him say in a shaky voice over the radio ‘I’ve got a code black.’ At that point I knew it was serious, that I had broken my neck and my life was going to be different from that point on.”

Shaw was told he’d never walk again, but amazingly, found the strength and determination to prove the doctors wrong.

“As soon as I knew I was getting some feeling back that’s when I knew I had to start working, like pedal to the floor – work as hard that I possibly can,” he said. “There are so many people, given the opportunity, who’d work day and night to get better and the Wings for Life World Run is all about running for those who can’t.”

Building a team for the Wings for Life run is one of Shaw’s latest projects, where he’s curated a group of nine well-known captains, all with spinal cord injuries, to guide runners from coast to coast, raising money and awareness for spinal cord research.

Some of the names include Paralympic sit-skier Josh Dueck, Humboldt bus crash survivor Ryan Straschnitzki and former professional mountain biker Andrew Cho.

“When people think about spinal cord injuries, it’s very black and white, it’s like you’re either paralyzed or not,” Cho explains. “So I think what we’re trying to do is increase awareness, that it’s a lot more common than you think and that it doesn’t always end in a wheelchair.”

Advocating for spinal cord injury awareness is something Cho has become passionate about since his story made headlines across the country just over two years ago.

“I had a blood vessel burst in my neck, I was paralyzed and in my apt at the time, so I used my chin to crawl to my phone and unlocked it with my tongue. Then I used Siri to call 911,” Cho recalls.

He, like Shaw, was told he’d never walk again, but found a way, and even ran a marathon months after the injury happened.

“It has been the best and worst experience of my life,” Cho says. “In a lot of ways, there are a lot of gifts that come with that experience, but also there are a lot incredibly traumatic experiences.”

Providing hope and support was what Shaw did for Cho, and what Dueck did for Shaw following his accident. Cho is using the run to pass that along to someone else.

Their team is called #TeamCoast2Coast and they’re hoping to get 500 members by May 5, and run a collective 5,500 kilometres. And if you think this is just an ordinary run, think again.

“The Wings for Life World Run is unlike any run you’ve ever heard of. There’s a start line, but no finish line,” Shaw explained. “And because it’s a world run, everyone starts at the exact same time. Here we run at 4 am, so you’re running against yourself and everyone around the world - but how do you finish? Well the finish line comes to you. There’s a virtual catcher car, and once it catches you, you’re done. It’s such a fun run.”