B.C. man recovering from debilitating motorcycle accident by pursuing art

Adam meets a man recovering from a debilitating accident by pursuing creativity.

PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. — To appreciate where Ron Friesen is heading on the path of life, we need to rewind to when he was lying on a road lifeless, surrounded by a crowd of concerned strangers.

“You can’t move, so all you can see are feet,” says Ron, who was paralyzed following a motorcycle crash. “But you can hear them, and somebody said, ‘Is he dead?’”

When you’re this close to death, you can’t help but think back on the life you’ve lived.

“When cars still had steel dashboards, my mom was taking me to the art gallery,” Ron smiles.

For as long as he can recall, Ron’s been painting pictures, taking photographs and making music.

“Something makes you feel something,” Ron says of his creative process. “And you want to express it to someone else.”

If you ask him to express how it felt after the accident caused a debilitating spinal cord injury, Ron will tell you it’s like flipping your canoe in the middle of a lake without a life jacket.

“You’re going to look one way and then the other and see what’s closer,” Ron says. “Then you’re going to swim and try to make it.”

And thanks to support from his health-care workers and family members, Ron learned to do almost everything again, from tying his shoes to walking.

But being creative again was different, because of permanent nerve damage in his fingers.

“It’s frustrating,” Ron says while trying to focus his camera. “But it’s the way it is.”

Now he can’t feel the buttons and dials on his camera, the pain makes him struggle to strum his guitar, and he can’t consistently control the paint on his canvas.

“You’re making [the paint] go one way,” Ron says. “And all of a sudden there’s this little [twitch].”

But Ron is refusing to give up on his passions and is pursuing his art professionally.

“Just carry on,” he says. “It’s not going to get better because you’re miserable.”

But Ron says it can get better, if you’re determined to learn new ways of doing things.

“You stand back,” Ron says. “And go, ‘OK, I can work with that.’”

And rather than looking back, Ron is moving forward, along a path that may be unexpected, but in a direction that couldn’t be more positive.

“Rather than wish it wasn’t the way it is,” Ron smiles. “Be grateful for what you do have.”