| |
 |  |
 |  |
|
Master Student Hall of Fame
Rick Hansen Biography
Over twenty years ago, Rick Hansen began a 40,000 kilometre odyssey. Across 34 countries, including China, Australia, Russia, and Great Britain, Hansen spun the wheels of his wheelchair an average of 9,000 times each day in order to complete a journey equivalent to the circumference of the Earth. Already prominent in Canadian athletics and a national spokesperson for disabled athletes, Hansen hoped The Man In Motion World Tour would raise awareness and funds for spinal cord injury research far beyond Canada's borders. When he returned to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1987, after a little more than two years on the road, Hansen had not only far outstripped his goal of raising $10 million, he positively altered the perception of disabled athletes- and became a living legend in the process. Rick Hansen was born on August 26, 1957 and grew up in Williams Lake, British Columbia. A talented and aspiring athlete, Hansen was paralyzed in both legs after he was thrown from the bed of a pick-up truck at the age of 15. His doctors told him he was a paraplegic and would never walk again. Hansen chose to remain an athlete and through rehabilitation refocused his abilities on wheelchair sports. In the late 1970s, he led the Vancouver Cable Cars (then the most successful team in the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association), to five national championships in six years. Before he began the Man in Motion World Tour in 1985, Hansen had already won 19 international wheelchair marathons, including three world championships. He was named the National Disabled Athlete of the Year in 1979, 1980, and 1982. In 1983, he shared Canada's Athlete of the Year award with Wayne Gretzky. In 1984, he represented Canada at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. During much of this time, Hansen was a student. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of British Columbia in 1976. He spent his first year in Faculty of Arts; the university could not see him graduating with the physical education degree he hoped to achieve. However, Hansen's accomplishments with the Vancouver Cable Cars and in the marathons, in addition to his obvious determination to become a world-class athlete, convinced the administration to reconsider that decision. Rick Hansen was the first student with a physical disability to graduate in Physical Education from the University of British Columbia. By 1985, Hansen was looking for a new way to spread the word about the flourishing world of wheelchair sports and the need for spinal cord injury research. He found his inspiration in a friend. Terry Fox was only 18 in 1977 when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and forced to have his leg amputated 15 centimetres above the knee. The suffering he witnessed in other cancer patients while he was recovering in the hospital motivated Fox to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. Fox's Marathon of Hope began on April 12, 1980, but he was forced to stop running after 143 days when it was discovered that his cancer had spread into his lungs. After his death in 1981, the Terry Fox Run became an annual event in Canada and around the world. To date the run has raised more than $360 million for cancer research. Rick Hansen wanted the results of the Man in Motion World Tour to reach people in the same way. After completing that first trip, Hansen returned to the University of British Columbia where he became the President's advisor on disability issues in 1987. He founded the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation in 1988 with the legacy fund created by the Man in Motion World Tour. This charitable organization, created to advance research funding and improve the quality of life for those affected by spinal cord injuries, expanded in 1996 when Hansen and University of British Columbia formed the Rick Hansen Institue. Hansen marked the tenth-anniversary of the Man in Motion Tour in 1997 with a celebratory visit to 17 cities to thank Canadians for the original donations that made the country one of the leaders in neurotrama research funding. The latest project of the Rick Hansen Institute is Wheels in Motion. Now in its third year, this annual race brings together people of all ages from communities across Canada, to bike, skate, run, or walk along a designated course. A co-author of two books, Rick Hansen- Man in Motion and Going the Distance: Seven Steps to Personal Change, Hansen is an influential ambassador for disabled athletes. Inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 1986, he was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, and received honorary Doctor of Law degrees from University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from McGill University in recognition for his work. Hansen sees no limits to the possibilities for those living with spinal cord injuries. The next stop: a NASA space station. "In the weightlessness of space, the wheelchair is irrelevant," says Hansen. "To have a person with a spinal cord injury conducting research on the international space station would be an amazing symbol of the potential of a person with a disability and show that there are truly no barriers." More information is available for each of the Master Student Profiles that appear in Becoming a Master Student. Start by visiting these Web sites to find out more about Rick Hansen. Then, use your favorite search engine to find more information. Remember to think critically about information you find online.
Student Voice: If you find a URL that you think your fellow Master Students will find helpful in researching a Master Student Profile, submit your findings to College Survival for posting on this web site. Mail to: csweb.collegesurvival@cengage.com
| ||||||
 | ||||||
